It's Black History Month - So What?

It’s Black History Month – So What??

We are nearly through Black History Month, and has anything really changed??

Perhaps your company put up a few Martin Luther King or Maya Angelou quotes, highlighted some folks that our history books didn’t cover (and still don’t), and asked your Black and African American employees to sponsor some events. Perhaps you got your Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) involved.?

But did you make any lasting change? Did you take a look at the systems in your workplace, and in your life, that need to be dismantled and reassembled to benefit everyone? Probably not. Because those things take time. And then take a sense of self-awareness that many don’t have and have no interest in cultivating.?

Meanwhile, Black people are tired. They are tired of the lack of acknowledgment that the systems are stacked against them. They are tired of the microaggressions that happen every day. They are tired of the fragility of white folks around them. They are sad that they have to have conversations about racism and murder with their children. They are angry about all of the things listed here, and that their history has been literally white-washed from school books, TV, movies, until recently when more Black authors, filmmakers, and actors have come together to inform and educate the rest of us.?

So what can you do??

To start with, educate yourself by reading, watching films, and following Black influencers on social media. Here on LinkedIn, you can follow leaders like Madison Butler, Future Cain, Tiffany Dufu, Anthony Sledge, Desiree Adaway, Kim Crowder, Nika White, Janelle Benjamin, Anthony Todd Jr, Jalonni Weaver, Joe Drew-Hundley, Lakrisha Davis, Tamika Sanders, PhD, Joshua T Smith, Tish Times, and so many more. These are the folks who showed up in my feed today.?

Then search the internet for Black-Owned businesses in your local area. Patronize those businesses and tell your friends to do the same. It makes a huge difference.?

And now then, let’s get to the heart of the matter. Let’s start the hard work of first acknowledging the racist systems that are in place in our communities, workplaces, churches, and healthcare systems, to name a few. Then we do the hard work of inner work – each of us acknowledging our own biases, beginning the process of unpacking those biases and starting to remove them or work around them. And finally, we take action to work with Black people as true allies, rather than the kind of allyship that says “I’m here for you” with little action to back that up.?

Oh, and since it’s Black History Month, maybe we start talking about that history with our kids and having it in our school books. Every day of the year, not just during February. Because Black History is our history.?

Laurie Battaglia and the team at Aligned at Work ? work with leaders to create workplaces of the future. They bring great leadership together with diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and meet rapidly changing needs to today’s and tomorrow’s workforce. Aligned at Work ? specializes in Diversity/Equity/Inclusion/Belonging Consulting and Training, Aligning Leadership Teams, Strategy Retreats, Aligned Leader? Training, Executive Coaching, Team Coaching, and Career Coaching.