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Home My WebLink AboutMorning Workshop 3 29 19The Government Alliance on Race and Equity Jordan Bingham Gordon F. Goodwin Advancing Racial Equity: The Role of Government Pair-up with someone you’ve not yet met… •Your name, where you work and role •What experience do you bring to discussions about race? •What do you hope to leave with? Introductions Who are we? Jordan Bingham Consultant Gordon F. Goodwin GARE Midwest Project Manager Today’s Objectives: •Gain awareness of government’s role in creating racial inequity •Clarify key terms and concepts to support the normalizing of racial equity •Be motivated to take action Creating a learning environment: •Take space, make space •Build and maintain brave space •What is said here, stays here •what is learned here, leaves here •Offer what you can, ask for what you need •One mic, one conversation Government Alliance on Race and Equity Our Five Functions Policy Development Narrative Shift Institutional and Sector Change Movement and Capacity Building Research A national network of government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. ✓Core network –124 members and growing! ✓Two dozen state agencies ✓Expanded network -30 states / 150+ cities ✓Provide tools to put theory into action Government Alliance on Race & Equity The Role of Government Values and realities •All men are created equal •With liberty and justice for all •Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth History of government and race Government explicitly creates and maintains racial inequity. Initially explicit Discrimination illegal, but “race-neutral” policies and practices perpetuate inequity. Became implicit Proactive policies, practices and procedures that advance racial equity. Government for racial equity Current Context White People of Color 0 50,000,000 100,000,000 150,000,000 200,000,000 250,000,000 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 Po p u l a t i o n 2010: Majority of new births are people of color 2030: Majority of people age 20-34 are people of color 2042: Majority of all Americans are people of color Why GARE leads with race •Racial inequities deep and pervasive •Racial anxiety on the rise –race is often an elephant in the room •Learning an institutional and structural approach can be used with other areas of marginalization •Specificity matters! When Leading with Race, we are… ….Race explicit, not exclusive always bring an “intersectional” analysis Race and •Gender •Ethnicity •Disability status…. •income / class •religion •sexual preference / identity National best practice Normalize •A shared analysis and definitions •Urgency / prioritize Organize •Internal infrastructure •Partnerships Operationalize •Racial equity tools •Data to develop strategies and drive results Visualize Laying it on the Line 1.Hiring and promotion decisions should be based solely on merit. 2.People who attend public meetings are the ones who care most about the issues 3.I believe we can end racial inequity. Early Experiences with Race Early Experiences Activity Marker •Part 1 –Silently jot down responses to 4 questions •Part 2 –partner with another person in the room –1 talker : 1 listener for the whole time •Part 3 –Listener and talker switch roles •Part 4 –Free-flowing exchange between partners Race: the Power of an Illusion Episode 3, “The House You Live In” START In pairs/ triplets… •What are the ways that government contributed to racial inequity? Reflections Impacts of Racism various sources In the city of Seattle, reducing the African American unemployment rate to that of whites would generate an additional $25 million in tax revenue. Impacts of Racism various sources If contracting were proportional to racial breakdowns in New York City, enterprises led by people of color would procure an additional $8 billion annually. Impacts of Racism various sources By 2040, the Twin Cities will have a 30 percent skill gap if they do not eliminate their racial inequities. Impacts of Racism Manuel Pastor, Chris Benner: Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America’s Metro Areas, October 2015 The greater the income gaps between rich and poor, the more likely the region is to lose jobs during economic shocks and the longer it will take to recover. Current context PolicyLink, 2015 Normalizing National best practice Normalize •A shared analysis and definitions •Urgency / prioritize Organize •Internal infrastructure •Partnerships Operationalize •Racial equity tools •Data to develop strategies and drive results Visualize Equity? Equality? What’s the difference? Racial inequity in the U.S. From infant mortality to life expectancy, race predicts how well you will do… Racial equity means: Closing the gaps so that race does not predict one’s success, while improving outcomes for all Achieving racial equity requires us to… ….Target strategies to focus improvements for those worse off ….Move beyond service provision to focus on changing policies, institutions and structures DE&I -NOT a single concept City of Portland Office of Equity How we think How we behave The Unconscious Mind Schemas: the “frames” through which our brains help us understand and navigate the world: 1.Sort into categories 2.Create associations 3.Fill in the gaps Schemas Help us organize information into broader categories. They largely reside in the sub- conscious. ✓Objects ✓Human beings (e.g., “the elderly”) Schemas and the unconscious are social. They exist in and are shaped by our environment. What color are the following lines of text? Vqeb peowCvurzxyqVqebpeowXocjbnioew GreenBlackBlueRed Green Black Blue Yellow How We Think We unconsciously think about race even when we do not explicitly discuss it. Humans need meaning. •Individual meaning •Collective meaning Only 2% of emotional cognition is available consciously Racial bias tends to reside in the unconscious network Explicit bias Expressed directly Aware of bias / operates consciously Example –Sign in the window of an apartment building –“whites only" Implicit bias Expressed indirectly Unaware of bias / operates sub-consciously Example –a property manager doing more criminal background checks on African Americans than whites. Screened auditions account for up to 46% of the increase in the percentage of females in symphony orchestras since 1970. Examples of implicit bias Claudia Goldin, Cecilia Rouse: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians (1997) Job search –Identical resumes, apart from names. White-sounding names –50% more callbacks than African- American sounding names. Susan Smith LaKesha Washington Examples of implicit bias What to do with bias? •Suppressing or denying biased thoughts can actually increase prejudice rather than eradicate it. •Openly acknowledging and challenging biases allows us to develop strategic interventions. What creates different outcomes? Institutional Explicit Institutional Implicit Individual Explicit Individual Implicit Institutional/Explicit Policies which explicitly discriminate against a group. People of color historically prohibited from using libraries by force of law (this occurred in the South and North) Institutional/Implicit Policies that negatively impact one group unintentionally. Library’s strict enforcement of fine collection disproportionately creates barriers to people of color, who are overrepresented among low-income populations Individual/Explicit Prejudice in action – discrimination. Library staff person lets a patron know that they are not being served because they are a different race Individual/Implicit Unconscious attitudes and beliefs. Staff decides to renew a lost item, extend return date, mark as “claims returned” or waive charges more often for white patrons than for patrons of color Bias at work –Library Example Institutional/Explicit Policies which explicitly discriminate against a group. Institutional/Implicit Policies that negatively impact one group unintentionally. Individual/Explicit Prejudice in action – discrimination. Individual/Implicit Unconscious attitudes and beliefs. Examples from your work – Scenario Part 1 Individual racism: •Bigotry or discrimination by an individual based on race. structural institutional individual Institutional racism: •Policies, practices and procedures that work better for white people than for people of color, often unintentionally or inadvertently. Structural racism: •A history and current reality of institutional racism across all institutions, combining to create a system that negatively impacts communities of color. Structures are a part of our lives: Examples Institutional Racism Structural Racism •“Stop and frisk” policies •Differential sentencing laws •Hiring and recruitment •Organizational discipline policies •Wealth gap •School to prison pipeline •Mass deportation Asking Different Questions FROM:TO: Effects What were the actions? What are the impacts? Systems What institutions are responsible? Causes What’s causing the racial inequities? Solutions What proactive strategies and solutions? Intentions What did they mean? What was their attitude? Prejudice What beliefs made them do it? Blame Who’s a racist? Grievance How can we fix what just happened? Lunch Contact information Gordon Goodwin 763-258-3328 ggoodwin@raceforward.org www.raceforward.org www.racialequityalliance.org Jordan Bingham jordan@jbinghamconsulting.com