Let’s Have Conversations…
Greetings GEDA Members,
My heart hurts today. I’m saddened by the effects of a pandemic. I’m saddened by the fact I can’t interact with friends and colleagues as I would like. I’m saddened by the still ongoing racial and economic disparities across our country, and the persistent racism that runs through our communities.
Throughout my professional career I have strayed away from this topic in order to not seem as an antagonist but one that could prove through results that black people are just as qualified as white people. However, I have come to a point; we have come to a point, where I no longer avoid this topic.
Systematic Racism is real.
It is up to us to acknowledge it, identify it and address it. That requires internal reflections first. Then addressing others when you see it happening. We had a healthy hour-long discussion in our staff meeting this week about race. I challenged my team to look at things through the lens of race. None of us is colorblind. Further, saying that you are colorblind maintains white privilege; black people cannot afford to be colorblind because the world sees our color. We all see color.
A few months ago, I wrote about my visit to the Lynching Museum in Montgomery, which I strongly encourage everyone to visit. It is a humbling experience. But if you set that history as a backdrop and look at our society today through the lens of race, you will see there are still major hurdles that need to be overcome. Just look at the statistics when it comes to incarceration rates, income disparity, unemployment rates, home ownership, home values and public schools. Look at all of those things through the lens of race and it will be clear to you.
In my column I pointed out how imperative it is to have an economic development strategy that has equity and inclusion at the heart of it. But for many of us, that is bigger than just our EDO’s. It is policy from our elected leaders down. It is time we not just make our policies for all, but we be specific in uplifting disadvantaged groups within our populations and not fall back on the old cliché of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” We must recognize that all of us are not born with boots or straps from which we can pull ourselves up.
Our own economic development strategy in Douglas needs to be amended to include specifics on how we will be a strategic resource for marginalized populations of color. As an association, equity, diversity and inclusion need to be a part of our core values.
I encourage conversations take place in your community about race. I encourage conversations take place amongst us about race. I’m here to have them with you. I am not the expert; I seek to learn along with you. These are uncomfortable discussions, but without them we will not grow.
“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.