This week’s opening thought: some thoughts on performative white nonsense “in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” on MLK Day, with past and recent history and sentiments for additional context (not that it's needed).
Read More(Not so) hot take: legitimate equity and inclusion an acronym or committee does not make.
All of the BJEDI, JEDI, IDEA, DEI, EDI, and other assorted acronyms you can come up with will not replace action and initiatives that gradually build stronger and more sustainable workplace cultures. Acronyms don't matter if you aren't putting in the work. Acronyms are just words. Those words are nouns until you make them verbs and just verbs until you decide to put in the hard work that makes them action verbs.
Schoolhouse Rock taught a whole generation that but you wouldn’t know it by lookin’ at that generation running victory laps with their acronyms and committees.
Image Description: A small group of people are popping a bottle of champagne. The champagne is flowing out of the bottle, frothing. The people are laughing and all share gleeful expressions. The group is all white except for one token Black woman.
If your company, organization, or institution is 60+ years old and you’re popping champagne and celebrating having “firsts” - first female Vice President, first Black Executive Director, first trans Department Lead, first Black female CEO - and these “firsts” are being brought into your company, organization, or institution without support systems and co-conspirators to make transformational and sustainable culture change happen you aren’t “progressive” or “focused on equity and inclusion.”
You’re a tokenizer and clout chaser.
Hope you’re enjoying that champagne, though. I hear the bubbles can tickle your nose, so keep an eye out for that.