Navigating Racial Justice Conversations And Orienting Toward Courageous Community

Racial injustice is present in our world and the path toward meaningful change requires difficult conversations, inner reflection, and courage to challenge the status quo.

In season 1 of the podcast, I was lucky enough to speak to my dear friend and mentor, Karen Kimsey-House, co-founder of the Co-Active Training Institute. We spoke mostly about transformational learning, learning to listen to your own voice, and how to reinvent yourself.

But we also touched on addressing racial justice, something I invite you to explore with me in this newsletter.

The Paradox of Racial Justice Conversations

In my conversation with Karen, we spoke about the racial injustices of the world and how they have caused so much pain, harm, and separation.

One of the first steps to addressing these injustices is engaging in meaningful conversations around them.

“Be as curious as possible about our differences. And as willing as possible to stand in the fire of difficult conversations, to let things become really personal with each other, and take them personally as little as possible.” - Karen Kimsey-House

These conversations can feel extremely personal and maybe even painful. The paradox here is to let yourself be personally impacted, to feel things, and to join people while not making it about you, your emotions, and your experiences.

By paradox what I mean is an apparent conflict.

But if you can live with both experiences of this paradox – and hold space for personal growth and collective healing – you will probably be able to navigate through this work.

“I think we have to do the best we can. If you can hold a conversation and be the one that holds it with equanimity, do so. If you have to be the one that is upset and taking it personally, well, that's the part for you to play in the conversation right now.” - Karen Kimsey-House

The Requirements for Racial Justice Work?

Racial justice work is hard. It requires a high demand of:

• Groundedness: The ability to stay rooted in our values and principles even in the face of adversity and complexity.
• Inner work: Examining our biases, privilege, and blind spots — and doing the work of unlearning and relearning.
• Curiosity: Approaching the world with a willingness to listen and learn from different perspectives.

It’s about looking at your values and caring about the world in such a way that you're willing to put yourself at risk.?

It’s something we have to learn our way through.?

It is not a straightforward path, there is no universal blueprint for this work. Different demographics have different experiences and different perspectives.?

It’s collective work.

“We can either hold that as an impossible challenge or as an exciting opportunity. And let ourselves travel back and forth between those two things.” - Karen Kimsey-House

Orienting Toward Courageous Community

At the end of the day, I'm interested in walking my own kind of truth. For me, this has something to do with a courageous community.?

Whether I'm cultivating, inspiring, building, or mourning, I'm always oriented toward a courageous community.?

That process to me looks like this:?

• Can we be with what's in front of us??
• If we can, can we be with it with curiosity??
• If we can, can we wander into what's possible??
• If we can, can we then risk ourselves 10% beyond our comfort zone into the possible??
• If we can, did we survive? Are we okay??

Usually, we're more fine than we anticipated. And once we reach that point, we expand our risk zone.?

That's how we grow toward each other and a different future.

To learn more about orienting toward a courageous community,? tune into S1E4 of Learning through Experience.

→ Learning Through Experience is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere you find podcasts.

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→ Learning Through Experience is a podcast produced through the Yale School of Management and hosted by Dr. Heidi Brooks.