Are you ready? Because fighting for racial justice means we have to use bigger and bolder approaches.

The events of the past week have reached a magnitude so devastating that many have not seen the likes of this in their lifetime if they’ve lived in the United States of America most of their life. George Floyd was murdered. He was not murdered by a stranger. He was not murdered by a friend. He was murdered by a police officer whose presumed purpose is to protect and serve.

Unfortunately, for many in Black America, we do not genuinely believe that cops serve and protect us with 100% confidence, they serve and protect whiteness. And the few bad apples arguments are not enough. If that were enough or simply true, the levels of violence we saw last week, the police brutality that ended the lives of Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others would not have taken place. This would have stopped already. The issue is deep, systemic, historic, outrageously anti-Black, and well documented in personal narratives, literature, scholarship, documentaries, movies, and once again, history. Why then does this issue persist?

The answers are complex but I will aim to make them digestible. What we are doing at the level of society, within our communities, within our workplaces, is simply not enough and oftentimes misses the overall point. Systemic issues require coordinated, deep, and sustained action across layers of society across various industries, communities, and fields of study.

This is not simply an issue of communication and lack of interracial friendships. In Shannon Sullivan’s Good White People, she notes that warm relationships between white and nonwhite people alone, although alluring, will not solve all problems of interracial tensions and hostilities because focus on that singular intervention ahistorically ignores the economic, legal, and other institutional factors of the United States’ long standing issues with systemic racism and white privilege. Moreover, banking on those kinds of activities alone is pernicious because absent an understanding and reckoning with history, it suggests that resolving these issues in that way is that easy. It’s not and that’s okay. Issues that are centuries in the making will take effort and coordinated action and the challenge is one we can all step up to and make a meaningful impact. I firmly believe this to be true but we need to get clear on a few things if we’re going to change anything substantively. Are you ready? Are you committed? If yes and yes, read on.

To eliminate US society’s deep investment in white supremacy and anti-Blackness, we must be diligent students of history, accurate histories. There are many places to start. One resource is the Zinn Education Project. Many of us who grew up in the United States do not have accurate reference points to understand how the past has informed the issues we’re experiencing today. For example, many call on the memory of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his professed commitment to non-violence without acknowledging that he and his fellow protesters’ non-violent strategies were met with dogs, hoses, pitchforks, torches, and bombs that were launched, thrown, and sanctioned by the state (read: other Americans!). So these calls for non-violence without even the mention of the violence Rev. Dr. King was up against is myopic at best and illusionary at worst. Far too many people focus on his worthwhile and aspirational messages of hope without any mere acknowledgement of the harsh realities he, and many others, faced in the pursuit of racial justice. We all need to increase our fortitude in acknowledging and reckoning with the full complexities of our national history. It’s important because it allows us to address circumstances realistically and remain focused on the goal-- eliminating systemic racism.

Here’s another item we must come to terms with: unconscious bias training is not enough. Training on microaggressions is not enough either. Although both interventions are important, those in and of themselves are not systemic interventions, they’re largely interpersonal. And if I’m being frank, bias and microaggressions are really terms that are concessions used when negotiating with people who do not want to accept that their problematic behavior is actually racist. What this then means is that we must do two things: 1) offer a variety of training opportunities ranging from interpersonal to systemic; and 2) those training opportunities must be coupled with a sophisticated long-term strategy with multifaceted interventions. To be clear, I did not say training on unconscious bias or microaggressions was ineffective. I said they are not enough! Organizations cannot make up completely for societal inequities and we’re not asking them to. That requires coordination across industries, including government, but organizations can do a lot to advance racial justice in society and foster a greater sense of belonging and inclusion among Black employees. 

Let me share a few examples. Ben and Jerry’s and Sesame Street have offered bold, direct, and very specific statements about the state of these issues, the parties involved, and aspirations for change rooted in their organizational values. If your organization cannot do this, start asking questions and doing some deep reflection. Unfortunately, many organizations and individuals are engaging in virtue signaling, which is nice but simply not enough. Organizations need to not only call out systemic racism, they also need to inspect their organizations for symptoms of systemic racial injustice and take concerted action. Now this can be daunting given the breadth of stakeholders, and potential resistance, but in actuality, linked prosperity is very good for business. Customers are more loyal to businesses whose stated values are aligned with verifiable and consistent actions which mutually benefit the organization and the broader community. We can see clearly that a systemic approach drives change and increases profits.

Unilever offers another shining example. In 2018, Unilever launched a cultural immersion program on the Black experience for marketing employees to increase their cultural competence. The 4.5-hour program starts with an in-depth review of the history and experiences of the Black community in the United States and then uses a broad range of examples across industries and companies to apply that insight to understand how well intentioned campaigns can have adverse consequences. Some readers may balk at the idea of a 4.5-hour training program. Reminder, I did not say this was going to be easy and easy is not the goal, eliminating systemic racism is. There are many other valuable tactics and strategies organizations are pursuing and many that have yet to be discovered.

At Cook Ross, we know from 30 years of work on unconscious bias that the human brain uses a lot of simple shortcuts to survive. It’s a scientific fact. However, bias is shaped by social circumstances including systemic racism. And if we leave it up to our biases, we will pursue quick and simple solutions that might feel good but don't provide long-lasting, systemic change. In light of the past week’s events, our approaches must be systemic, multi-faceted, and intersectional because lives depend on it. I know I never want to hear another Black person cry out, “I can’t breathe," again. So I’ll ask the question one more time, are you ready? I am and I sincerely hope you are too.