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Black Lives Matter - The call for sustainable transformation
Over the past few weeks we have had various discussions about the Black Lives Matter movement as a team. We have been open about feeling uninformed, awkward, and unsure of what the right thing to do is.
This, in itself, is a necessary part of the learning process. In order to do the internal work properly we will feel uncomfortable and be faced with looking at our past and present actions (or lack of) critically, often bringing up feelings of guilt and shame.
This infographic (credit: @drewibrahim) helps to put context around the amount of work that needs to be done. Right now, many of us are in the learning zone; reading, listening, absorbing, reflecting. What is crucial is it doesn’t end there – we need to look to how we can continue the momentum of intent, and transform that into impact.
This is a life-long commitment for which there is no quick fix. Some of the actions that we are taking now are:
- Having the difficult conversations with family, friends and colleagues. Continuing them, and holding each other accountable.
- Educating ourselves and seeking out content from anti-racism activists.
- Donating to anti-racism charities.
- Reviewing our partner network and how we can improve the diversity of voices in the employee wellbeing space.
In order to make a valuable long-term impact we have a lot more to do, but this is our honest starting point from which we are committed to grow.
Resources
There are many excellent resources out there, below are a small selection:
- Book - Me And White Supremacy – Layla Saad
- Book - How To Be An Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
- Activists to follow on social media (independent.co.uk)
- 33 books featuring black heroes and characters every kid should read (theeverymon.com)
- 60 books for kids to learn about diversity (split into age groups by kidadl.com)
- 23 things to watch if you’re trying to educate yourself about racism (graziadaily.com)
Published: 19th June 2020