A Love Letter to Equity

The Letter, Mary Cassatt, 1890-91, The Met Public Domain

​​Dear Equity,
Equity, Equity, Equity. What a word you are – you sound a little like your cousin “equality”, but you are somehow fresher, snappier. So many have written or made videos about how you two are different, but why are people making such a fuss about you, in particular?
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Because, Equity, though you may seem footloose and fancy-free, you have hidden depths. You demand an acknowledgement of the legacy of historical wrongs. You demand attention towards continuing bias and oppression (the African American Policy Forum does an excellent job of summing all this up in cartoon form). You envision – and you demand – an end to harm and a path to collective liberation.

But many people have trouble seeing you for what you are, particularly when you call yourself Racial Equity. Often you get sandwiched between “diversity” and “inclusion”, two seeming buddies who are actually carrying a great deal of hidden baggage. Diversity celebrates difference without asking who benefits, while inclusion welcomes without asking who is hosting. These are not your buddies. In fact, they are working against you, telling others that if we all just come together, unite in our differences, that… sorry, I’m going blank here.

Racial Equity, you require something of us. In the workplace, for example, you require we acknowledge (among other things):

• The set of barriers we erect and maintain in front of qualified candidates of color when we recruit through historically segregated informal networks.
• The set of barriers we erect and maintain when we require non-job-related degrees or certifications historically accessible to only white folks (for this and the above bullet, see the EEOC’s description of Title VII on Recruitment, Hiring and Advancement).
• Our continuing implicit bias in favor of hiring and promoting candidates who “fit” with white employees or white culture.
• Our continuing aggressions (micro and otherwise) against those who don’t “fit.”

Despite the volumes of peer-reviewed scientific research that is ever-growing, many have a tough time getting there with you, Equity. But don’t give up.  Many believe in you - have built organizations around you. Two even created comprehensive resource databases! Please keep being you, because your vision of collective liberation, “a world in which the full humanity and dignity of all people is recognized”, is breathtakingly beautiful.

Love,
Meredith

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