Black August: Truth-Telling is a Prerequisite for Liberation
“Let me give you a word on the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all absorbing, and for the time being putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.”
— Frederick Douglass in a letter to an abolitionist associate, 1848
Some people claim to want reform, but don’t want to be discomforted. They may not even recognize their privilege in asserting their right to comfort. And, they especially love euphemisms as as way to maintain comfort. Jim Crow is much more benign compared to racial terror. White fragility sounds less threatening than white hostility. Food deserts is much more palatable than food apartheid.
In our communities, some people love Black culture, but not Black people. They say, “I’m pro-integration, but not in my backyard.” They state, “It’s okay for you to march, but not now.” They tell us, “We don’t mind if you kneel, but not here.” They dictate, “You can say, ‘I can’t breathe,’ but do so quietly.”
What does this look like in the workplace?
“Professional” is code for “white.” The C-Suite looks like a 1950’s country club. The door keepers say, “All are welcome here,” yet the expectation is that we leave our blackness, our ethnicity, our queerness, our faith, and our culture at the door. People indoctrinated in white supremacy (either knowingly or unknowingly) get defensive when the status quo is questioned.
They proclaim equity as a core value, yet they don’t want to share power. They say, “time is of the essence,” so they swiftly make decisions without being inclusive or transparent. When employees speak up, they are shut down. Subsequently, with crushed spirits, employees suffer in silence before leaving the company permanently. The workplace becomes a revolving door.
Where do we go from here?
Create a culture in which truth-telling is normalized, valued and welcomed. Let’s start by acknowledging that because white supremacy is pervasive, it’s embedded in our organizational culture too. Unless we prioritize uprooting it, we’re complicit in upholding it. We must question the status quo, interrogate internal systems and processes, ensure that our actions match our proclaimed values, and do the work to become anti-racist.
