About that Statement You Wrote...
Over the past two weeks, I’ve received many statements on racism, solidarity, equity, black lives, and police brutality. You know what I am talking about - that email you sent that many people at your institution likely agonized over, edited many times, and finally sent with a dramatic “WE DID IT” exhale.
Here is the thing: while words matter, they are not enough to dismantle inequitable systems or create tangible change. Over the weekend, while my husband jogged and my kids enjoyed some Saturday morning cartoons, I reread every “statement” email I’ve received over the past couple of weeks.
And then, I made this Solidarity Statement Bingo Card. Spoiler Alert - This is not a game you want to win. And quite frankly, even if you do not score a traditional bingo, marking off these squares is an explicit invitation for you and your organization to do more. Your thoughtful statement may have been the first step - and now, you have more work to do.
We invite you to take a look Forward Through Ferguson’s 4 Essentials of Antiracist Statements by Institutions of Power and make a public commitment to your next step - whether it's another statement or taking an actual action.
It does feel appropriate to tell you that Gladiator Consulting did not write or release a statement regarding continued police brutality, loss of black lives, white supremacy, and structural racism. Sharing a statement was not what we needed to do in yet another critical moment.
What we did do was talk as a team about what we (a non-black consulting firm) could do on an individual level and team level. In 2016 we explicitly named equity in our mission and vision. Social Justice and Racial Equity blanket our core values. We strive to be an anti-racist organization that takes the lead from and centers community in our co-creation with clients. We have been reading Adrienne Maree Brown’s Emergent Strategy. Our team has been participating in Forward Through Ferguson’s Systems Change Primer and continues to seek opportunities to challenge ourselves and our work.
Perhaps most importantly, we brought together the white Executive Directors/CEOs of our current clients for a facilitated conversation with white facilitators - that will continue weekly + cost-free for this cohort through the month of June. And, at the urging of our white team members, I (the only POC currently at Gladiator) stepped away from this conversation so the burden of teaching and learning could be held by my white peers.
All this being said, our non-black team acknowledges that we have more work to do and we pledge to be transparent about our own struggles, shortcomings, learnings, and action and will encourage you to do the same. We will report back on our successes and failures, and we ask you to hold us accountable for our words.
Statements on solidarity have important words and promises, but we want to be sure you take the next step and put action behind those sentiments. Where have you fallen short? What’s next for your organization?