How We Reach Racial Equity

 

One of my goals with Leadervest is to help create a more purposeful and sustainable world. A big part of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals and creating a truly purposeful world is finally solving and ending racism–reaching equity. It’s been 57 years since Martin Luther King Jr. stood strong and told us all his dream and sadly we have yet to see it become true.

There is still so much hate and anger in our world that we need to address. There are reasons why Black Lives Matter and why this movement needs more than a passing glance and a patronizing pat on the back.

The question then becomes what can we do to move on from here?

The first thing to do is acknowledge and recognize your privilege. Whether or not you realize it you were born with a certain power and privilege and this has impacted your life.

Too often we stay rooted in our bubbles, focused only on our problems and fully oblivious of the advantages we’ve been given. Your life may not be perfect and you may have to deal with your own share of lemons but chances are you were born with definite advantages not given to everyone.

This is one of the reasons we aren’t playing a fair game. But we can choose to do what we can to level the playing field and create equity.

This moves on to the second thing to do, which is investigate how you can help.

You may not be facing injustice, but you can assist the fight to end inequality.

When joining in it is very important to remember that this is not about you. You are offering assistance to help keep the machine running but you are not meant to be the face. Stand back and let the oppressed take the stage.

There are guides online (for example Guide to Allyship and How To Be An Ally) and these can help you figure out the best steps you can take to join the fight.

We are not going to end the hate if we don’t show our support and do our part to limit injustice. We all come from the same root (one giant human family tree) and we need to work together to make sure all voices are heard and all limbs have the same chance for survival.

Another major step we need to take is to address systemic racism.

Our society was built by able-bodied white men and, as such, the system is designed to fit their needs. Systemic racism is making it harder for the minority population to access opportunity and escape poverty and this should not be an example of what humanity is.

Every step needs to be taken to ensure there is equal access to everyone. Whether it be addressing unequal incarceration rates, income inequality or discrimination in healthcare we have a long way to go before we’ve evened the playing field and achieved equity.

Solving systemic racism is not going to be easy and it is going to require us to take a good, long look at many of the social structures we use every day and recognize how these systems are unfairly stacking the deck.

It will be hard and there will likely be blowback from parties currently benefiting from the current system but this is a definite way to make the world a better place.

Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals is reduced inequalities. I know we are able to recognize that our current world and system is flawed and I would like to believe that this means we have the knowledge, strength and conviction to find and implement a solution.