Personal Equity Learning Journey, Part 3
At SVP, we are committed to advancing racial equity because race and ethnicity play an outsized role in determining kindergarten readiness and because we know that equity is essential for building a strong, vibrant community. One way that you can advance racial equity is to educate yourself and others about issues impacting communities of color. When we begin with personal learning and reflection, we can realize our individual responsibility, and better understand how we can work collectively to make positive social change. SVP Partners and staff share what they have been reading, listening to, and watching as a part of their personal equity journeys. We hope this will inspire you!
Sims Brannon:
I recently read How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery in America by Clint Smith. The author takes us on a tour of American places such as cemeteries, plantations, and prisons that were and are enmeshed in the history and memory of slavery. I was struck repeatedly by the ways in which slavery is remembered and, more often, misremembered in this country. So much of our history is distorted or completely denied. We as a country have not had a real reckoning with slavery, which seems to me to be largely a result of white denial that in turn places a great burden on our Black community. This book was an excellent place for me to start to understand the process we need to go forward together.
Larry Fox:
As a part of Tema Okun’s “White Supremacy Culture” anti-racist training, I learned about attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of white culture that both characterize and sustain it. Okun provides ‘antidotes’ or prescribed attitudes and behaviors that can create a more inclusive culture. I learned to consider how Black people perceive the white culture they live in, must navigate, and endure. Okuns’s work is an invitation to explore the very complex ways we are bound together through our mutual experiences of one another. It’s not a salvo, it is an offer to work together toward a legitimately more inclusive community.
Nicole Thibodeau:
Last year, once again, I co-led a one-of-a-kind Philanthropic Investment graduate course. Among their core responsibilities, students designed and led a grant process of $250,000 awarded by a funder. We have noticed in the past few years that this new generation of students is very aware and heavily focused on social justice. As part of a thoughtful process, they chose to direct the funding opportunity to communities that are historically oppressed, underrepresented, and underfunded–something that was clearly communicated to the potential applicants, their advisory board, and the funders representatives. Following a very intentional, thoughtful, and systematic evaluation process, the students selected finalists. Unfortunately, the funder did not approve of their choice and exerted pressure on the students to change their recommendation. The class chose not to fund any organization rather than to compromise their decision. This process only underscored that there remains institutional racism and old-fashioned ways of thinking in traditional philanthropy. I was proud of my students for working toward breaking down barriers to access and for standing in solidarity with their most important stakeholders: the organizations that serve historically under-resourced communities.