Race Matters
Race matters.
Class matters. Geography matters. Gender identity and ability matter. Through whatever means we define these constructs, we can at least acknowledge that time has a way of altering how we feel about them. Imperialism creates and shifts borders; people are sorted into categories that reflect their proximity to power and privilege, and those become our identities – if not to ourselves then to others.
History matters. Understanding how these constructs, particularly race and class, have been molded and contorted over time is critical in allowing us to make (at least some) sense of this moment. It feels like history is yelling at us, “I tried to tell you so!” For folks still trying to grapple with the enormity of all the disaster and devastation we’ve witnessed or experienced in the last few years, it’s often hard enough to put one foot in front of the other. We don’t all have the energy or inclination to wax poetic about things long past. But some of us do. And we should.
We should be willing to speak honestly about not only what has happened in the past, but what we are experiencing now. James Baldwin said, “History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. If we pretend otherwise, we are literally criminals.” To pretend that class is solely a function of hard work discounts those who work two and three jobs and still can’t afford the basic necessities of life. It is criminal. To pretend that a meritocracy did, could or can exist when entire groups of people have experienced enslavement, segregation, marginalization and criminalization discounts the very meaning of the word. It is criminal. To pretend that the shifting pendulum of power and privilege that sometimes swings our way won’t eventually swing against others we care about discounts the very gravity of the human condition – that we all carry the capacity to harm and to be harmed and that we will, eventually, have to rely on others for help.
There are many cases to be made for equity. In this moment, the moral case feels most compelling. We need each other, and we need each other to be well. There will undoubtedly be things we cannot control, things that no level of preparedness will protect us from. The might of misfortune will inevitably touch us all – climate disasters, political unrest, the violence of war, social upheaval. History has shown that these things will shape the identities we shape for ourselves and how we live together. History has also shown that there are always those who emerge as voices of reason and compassion. As voices of truth and vision. We won’t all be remembered individually, but we can be remembered collectively. We can bring a level of care and intentionality to our work, to our relationships with each other and to how we want to show up in the world.
Good intentions alone won’t get us there. Good intentions need to be operationalized – we need to plan. That requires thinking through, step by step, what a journey from where we are to where we want to be might look like. That requires honest assessments and clear-eyed missions and visions. We can’t all do everything, but we can all do something. The work of the Race Matters Institute at MDC is focused on helping organizations and efforts figure out the concrete actions they can take to advance racial equity. If you’re trying to figure out what your something is, perhaps we can help you.
Kamilah A. Pickett is Director of the Race Matters Institute at MDC (RMI). Kamilah leads the social entrepreneurial work of RMI, which offers customized training, technical assistance, coaching, and product development to advance concrete actions in both operations and programming that strengthen an organization’s mission performance. RMI focuses specifically on promoting racial equity in organizational strategies, policies, and practices as a complement to the work of others who focus on racial equity at the individual and interpersonal levels.
