How to stand up for Racial Justice now and forever – Wired PR Lifestyle Story
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“I’m not free until any woman is free, even when her chains are very different from mine.” – Audre Lorde
Remembering the tone of Beyoncé’s call Get into training, (after a while, let this thing explode on Spotify for a quick atmosphere) This is the question we face as we move to 2022: what will be your anthem to move the race to respond to the call for racial justice? How can you take advantage and give up the power, privilege, and position when needed to break the reality of inequality, harm, and injustice in the neighborhoods, places of worship, schools, businesses, and homes we all call home? As we reflect on this past year and set goals and aspirations for the new year, the challenge for all of us is to consider what the work of racial justice requires of each of us. How would we commit each to move from perhaps apathy or passive positions ally with an active attitude co-agitation, to align with the collective work of community equity? In fact, you are part of the process of destroying or maintaining oppression. There is no neutrality.
I wrote the letter below to inspire, inform, and encourage how we each appear as co-agitators in 2022; I hope you will consider taking part in the training.
Feature image Riley Reed.
Dear Radical Woman,
Actually, it may not have led to a dramatic break in 2020, but 2021 was still a lot. We continued to navigate a global pandemic, forced to adapt to the unknowns of the new covid-19 variants, disrupting plans, rhythms and perhaps dreams. They overcame the impact and shock of natural disasters and confronted the political turmoil that is taking place in our community schools about mask orders and curriculum revolutions. There has been a lot to digest, a lot to deal with, and yet each of these collective experiences is intertwined with the constant violence of melancholy bodies.
“Racism and racism is a reality, as many of us grow up learning to deal with it alone. But if we hope to get there from time to time, we can’t deal with people of color. It’s up to all of us — blacks, whites, all of us — no matter how good we think we can be, to do honest and uncomfortable work to get rid of it. ” – Michelle Obama
Although 2020 increased visibility around racial injustice, the momentum and urgency driven by those moments quickly diminished. Black boxes disappeared from our Instagram, trawls changed in our Twitter headlines, and perhaps the seriousness of bringing new conversations to our dinner tables, boards, or pulpits was short-lived. The truth is that our search for racial justice cannot be episodic, moving only to turning points or news headlines. Too many in 2020 we saw the stories of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor as entrepreneurs, mothers / parents, educators, neighbors, human beings who created the space for this discourse. extinct and murdered indigenous women or maybe violence against our AAPI community, just for a moment. But the truth is that today, tomorrow and next year are not attitudes of apathy, unfulfilled promises, performative gestures. The value of black life, the visibility of Latino and indigenous stories, and the protection of AAPI bodies must be seen, recognized, and linked to our daily attitudes, brand positions, socio-political practices, and cultural paradigms.
The call to actively eradicate racism and systemic oppression is not a hashtag for how long the answer remains in our Instagram or Twitter feed, nor is it made up of participating in a rally or making a PR statement. No, employers and consumers are being called upon to go beyond the intellectualization or performance of racial justice to actively break down oppressive systems.—This will require you to move your investment from a bookstore-wide business club or a well-timed tweet to deliberately change practices, processes, and personal paradigms.
“In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist. We have to be against racism. ” “Angela Davis.”
While the responsibility for reconciling injustice lies with the elected representatives, the justices of the peace, law enforcement, and the leaders of our community, the work of racial justice is in the hands of all of us who consider ourselves part of it. community stories. This includes and, in many ways, the vision and mission of the investment and intent of those of us who build the mission. Our brands, our organizations, our organizations are the driving force behind our post-branch tool, money, and the architect of one of our most iconic devices, storytelling. Employers are asked; What is your racial justice ethos? How does your role fit in with racial equality? Will complicity continue to be a silent character that feeds hatred, or will your voice and hands actively work to dismantle systems of oppression? Will you take advantage of your position, your power, your authority, and perhaps your privilege to empower and affirm the oppressed, or will you simply be able to hide your privilege from the pain, suffering, and injustice we have witnessed? Will you ask an awkward question, engage in an awkward process, question your background, and question your agenda?
It will take a lot more than just a trip to a business trip, a path to justice, waking up to tweets, waking up on a brand’s website, a black box on Instagram, diversity contractors, or donations. No, I believe that Dr. Angela Davis’s distinctive words are true and very important to companies and organizations around the world. Our long-awaited investment in justice requires a sustained investment in changing our organizational paradigms, loudly disrupting our institutional practices, and challenging the problematic private and public behaviors that drive them.
Each of us must respond to ourselves, to the organizations that affect us, and to the spaces that belong to us, distorting the truth and maintaining harmful narratives. Let us remember that we all have agency to be the architect of a new reality, and the narrator of a new story.
So let’s consider this year’s practices:
• Share stories beyond turning points, holidays, campaigns, and annual reports
• Bring your staff and community along during your trip; let them serve as a real-time soundboard and accountability partner.
• Create a site for feedback and challenges: You need to work on a brand that recognizes, honors, and values criticism.
• Be transparent about your mistakes and misfortunes, sharing the good and the ugly is part of building trust and getting to know your whole journey.
• Invite different voices to provide updates on new practices and processes; provide a real perspective on your journey that creates space for true and raw discourse, and not just a preserved update of PR.
• Listen and learn from the voices of BIPOC (but make sure you reward us for our time, contribution and knowledge!)
• Share a microphone with women of color
• Do your job. (Just a reminder, Google is free). Don’t trust others to decide what co-agitation is for you
“You don’t have to be afraid to take the first step to make a change. We will fail when we try. ” – Rosa Parks
A lot of people at the moment are “where do I start?” they are asking questions. or “what do we do?” Even in the midst of a pandemic, the cry for racial justice is loud. For many newcomers to the interview and looking at their personal and collective response, it can be overwhelming. But that doesn’t mean you can give up or you shouldn’t. Instead, how can you find your role in coagulation? A term that focuses on action, which calls into question comfort, complicity, and convenience, and requires a constant disruption of the spaces that call you. At Rosa Matxinada we are inviting all beings to change from the ally — the position that often allows for complacency or remote support, where we value the idea of equity but are not willing to work for it — to the position of co-agitator — your position of promise. deliberate action and investment. (Join our Rosa Rebellion Race Justice 2022 Cohort—One-year program that specifically invites self-identifying white women who are willing to work). Candidates / applications are open, click here).
That’s just good to do, good. Donating is good. Volunteering is good. But change, justice requires an active fight against injustice, inequality and inadequacy, it means sacrificing and perhaps putting yourself and those around you in uncomfortable positions. In order to combat racial injustice, action is needed in the spaces called for. And be careful not to attribute these human mischief to history or to a hypothetical system or person, be responsible for tuning in to macro / micro-attacks and systemic oppression in your office (virtual or not), neighborhoods, and your office (virtual or not). children’s school, family / friends and places of worship.
What will your investment in racial equity look like in the new year? How do you defend and elevate the voices of women of color? ? (Learn how to invest REBEL FundRosa Rebellion’s new space to fund women’s racial justice projects click here to donate). How will you recalibrate your internship and refresh your efforts with this renewed time opportunity? As you reflect, the following warnings can help you create new intentions:
As you reflect, the following warnings can help you create new intentions:
• Your anti-racism must recognize the pain, trauma, systemic oppression of ALL communities or colors.
• Your anti-racism demands the abolition of white supremacy
• Your anti-racism should be intentional, not performative
• Your anti-racism should be unforgiving, not neutral or conditioned
• Your anti-racism cannot focus on your comfort, but must raise the truth
• Your anti-racism should start today, not tomorrow.
• Your anti-racism should be visible, not intellectual
• Your anti-racism requires you to be brave, not submissive
• Your anti-racism should inform our private and professional decisions, not just the political vote
• Your anti-racism needs to be widespread and enduring, not just a response to how long a hashtag remains on our Twitter feed.
• Your anti-racism should start today, not tomorrow
Tired, but he signed a hopeful one
Virginia A. Cumberbatch
To learn more about or collaborate on Rosa Rebellion’s vision, click here or contact us at this address [email protected].
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