Search Results for: Decolonizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work

Decolonizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work: … Means Naming White Supremacy Culture [In Ourselves] Part V

We’ve spent the last two months exploring how to decolonize DEI and, by extension, ourselves. But what if you’re the colonizer? I am exactly who is meant to benefit from the system. And I do, constantly. White people—historically men—make the rules… and we don’t even bother following them. Because that’s not the point of white supremacy. The point is to remind everyone who’s on top. We can’t decolonize ourselves, because we aren’t colonized. But we can fight alongside the patriots. 

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Decolonizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work: … Means Naming White Supremacy Culture [In Ourselves] Part IV

When Brittany gave us the challenge to name white supremacy culture in ourselves, I couldn’t help but feel a combination of exhaustion and defensiveness. I tried to think about how white supremacy has been internalized in my own head, in my communities, in my city—but I kept running into a mental wall, and this frustrated and fatigued me. I felt like I was trying to peel off a scab that wasn’t fully healed yet? Colonialism may be centuries old, but this wound is fresh.

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Decolonizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work: … Means Naming White Supremacy Culture [In Ourselves] Part III

Last week, Brittany J. Harris modeled the reflection that she encouraged our readers to participate in—considering how and where white supremacy culture and its values show up in her work. This week, I take on the same challenge. While I had previously tracked several of these as weaknesses in my work, I had not necessarily paused to reflect on ways that they may be based in white supremacy. This exercise challenged me to think more critically about my practices and how I may have internalized the harmful norms that shape them.

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Decolonizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work: Corporate “D&I Speak”

We recognize that the words we use to talk about our work and the interpretations of the words and concepts are critical to making progress. In the context of decolonizing DEI work, it is imperative that we begin to muster up the courage to call out language that perpetuates injustices and inequities, whether intentionally or not. It is important to stop using language that sanitizes meanings in service of white fragility or to satisfy those in power—and replace it with heretofore taboo terminology, especially in the corporate world. 

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Decolonizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work: Centering Equity Through Equity-Centered Design

Beyond the why of this work, practitioners also need to rethink the how. DEI work almost always starts in the C-Suite, by far the least diverse area of organizations, with women and people of color holding only 28% of those positions. That means the people who have most benefitted from privilege and inequity are the ones tasked with spearheading the effort to break down those very systems. A top-down DEI plan for an organization makes a critical assumption that should make the conscientious practitioner uncomfortable: that those with decision-making power know what is best for marginalized employees.

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Racial Justice at Work: Practical Solutions for Systemic Change

Racial Justice at Work book cover

Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit

Inclusive Conversations: Fostering Equity, Empathy and Belonging Across Differences

We Can’t Talk About That At Work! (Second Edition)

Cover of the book We Can't Talk about That at Work (Second Edition) by Mary-Frances Winters and Mareisha N Reese

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