When I discuss DEI, I am not coming to you as a scholar, but as a person with a lived experience that began when I was about 4 years old and has continued on until now. From going to Christian schools in PreK, through graduation from high school, through my work experience, through my grad school experience and now as a member of that illustrious place called ACADEMIA. I think it is much easier to see the dysfunction of DEI in educational spaces.
DEI was not just born when George Floyd was killed. It has been an effort since slavery ended. America has been on this journey of trying to rid itself of White supremacy, but sadly the effort has usually been led by those still plagued with being White supremist. Oftentimes people do not know that it still lies deep within. When I say this, I am not judging anyone as being part of the KKK, but I am sharing my story as a way to hopefully shed light on those ways that this mindset still creates a barrier to achieving authentic DEI.
When a White organization tries to start a school in a predominately Black and most times low income neighborhood, it’s usually because they see a genuine need. It is possible that being able to see the need is birthed out of a desire to right the wrongs of racism. However, the problem comes when they enter that space thinking that the community is the only one with the issue. Sometimes the mentality is that they are going in to “save” the community from its destructive path and only they know how to do that. Organizations with this way of thinking will usually hire Black people, even a Black principal so that the school reflects the community it is serving. However, the board members strip any real power or influence the Black person has to speak on how to best reach the community. Teachers, principals, or staff members cannot disagree with the leadership, make suggestions without being blown off, and usually the school ends up being a toxic space that looks like a facility that is holding the rejects of society. The education is usually not high quality because those who founded the school do not feel the students are equally human and intelligent enough to have high quality educational experiences. When the behavior of the students is poor, they assume it’s because of their upbringing, and not because they are responding to the inequitable environment that has been created. The students even can tell that the Black people working there are powerless, so they don’t respect them. In fact, many of those who work there even feel that they are working on a plantation, because they feel unseen, unheard, devalued and oppressed. There are times when the White leadership will drop in for occasional inspections…I mean visits (in these types of spaces, it reminds me of when the master would walk around the plantation to survey his domain)…or to show the school off to their White donors, so the donors can see how they are helping this poor neighborhood. What would be even more powerful is if those who visited saw authentic community and PARTICIPATED in or became part of the community. The community, the students and the Black staff SEE this hypocrisy and this only hurts the process of racial healing more. If this is how this type of work is being done, no matter how many graduates go to college and do great things, if the relationships are not genuinely healed, then the work is unfinished and the infectious power of change is diminished.
I know a White guy who had a heart to reach a certain neighborhood. He moved into the neighborhood, raised his kids in the neighborhood and became PART of the community. They had a genuine friendship with the people in the community and overall made a major difference in the community’s life. He died serving that community and now his wife and children continue the work that he started. They don’t act like they are better than, or that they have come to “save” anyone, but they are in relationship with the community and seek the community to guide them on how to reach their needs, as opposed to coming in dictating what the community needs. He saw a genuine need, but honored the people enough to ask THEM how he can help. Then he did the work by being in relationship with the community. I am not suggesting that anyone doing this type of DEI work has to live in the community, but I do believe his heart is something that should be replicated.
I experienced authentic DEI at Howard University as well. Many do not realize that HU has a lot of White professors (they have professors from all types of ethnic groups and orientations actually). My dad was a professor at the dental school and I grew up seeing him work with White professors and they were all friends just doing the work together. When I went on to teach there, professors of every ethnic group and background all just hung out as friends and colleagues. There was no need for an organization to help people have support in the space, because we were all just in community with one another. No dividing lines. No DEI trainings. Just human beings working and dwelling together. DEI should be bringing people together, not driving them apart. DEI should recognize our human flaws and our shared humanity and that to help society we all have to work together.
DEI should not be an impotent space where people come to share their struggles being in a space, with no change happening. It should not be a place where people just come to talk about the racist thing that just happened and someone just nods their head and says “Yeah, the same thing happened to me! See these people are a trip!” but outside of that space you cannot talk about the racism you are experiencing. DEI should be making the whole space SAFE, not creating a safe space within a toxic environment. My experience with DEI is that once you step outside of the designated place on the plantatio….I mean school, university or institution to try and get help with ending your racist experience, nothing changes, except your well being. You are isolated because those who are being racist are protected instead of being held accountable. You are silenced because you are disrupting the peace of Blacks and Whites who just want to keep their jobs. DEI that does not systematically stop micro and macro aggressions, inequity, racism, PLUS bring everyone together in a healthy working community is a scam. I don’t care how many book talks, workshops, speakers and symposiums you have, if you are not doing the work of bringing the community together and changing the hearts and mentalities of each person there, it is a scam. It is just another façade to make the world think the organization cares about the minorities in the space, without really doing the work of changing the hearts of people. It is just another way to protect the seat of power of those who have sanctioned DEI and yet won’t actually do the work themselves. Sadly, it also becomes another way for minorities to have an important title as the one who handles DEI for the master…I mean leader of the organization so the leader themselves don’t really have to change.
I remember on one occasion having a racist experience and once it was reported, I was isolated. I kept asking if I could have a mediator to talk with the person who offended me and I was told that we could talk, but not about my racist experience. I was literally not allowed to talk to the person who hurt me and she was not allowed to talk to me. We were not given any opportunity for reconciliation and to my knowledge that relationship is still broken. They had to do diversity training and there was some consequence, but it was in isolation and did not involve restoring our work relationship. I was given a written report on what happened and how it was handled and after wiping their hands (said with sarcasm), they were all done. Was that a successful example of DEI?? How did that process accomplish anything but the continuance of a broken relationship? DEI should not be a place to TATTLE on people so they are in danger of losing their job and I somehow stand back in proud victory as if to say, “See that’s what you get for treating me that way!” What if the person is a good person who just needs to grow in this area? What if someone like me, who was genuinely hurt needs to also heal? Do you realize that the more we do the work of reconciliation, the more we distance ourselves from America’s racist past? History shows us that whenever we come together to heal, America moves a step forward. Literally, every single healed relationship is a step forward for the country, because healing can be infectious…contagious! We will not heal our country by doing a mass reading of How to Be an Antiracist. I do not say that to negate the importance of that book, but it simply is not enough and neither does that book and many others like it offer a viable solution to bringing authentic healing. What do we do with the information it provides? HOW do we heal?? Maybe reading it together, discussing it together, arguing about it together, analyzing its flaws and wisdom together and then strategizing TOGETHER on how to change the narrative?? Whatever we do, it has to involve being together and doing the work together in an equitable way, not in a “master telling the overseer to deal with those Black people who keep complaining about racism” kind of way. But maybe people don’t really want to heal. There’s so much money to be made writing about, talking about, lecturing about, creating centers about the existence of racism or ignoring that racism exists. The division is a profitable business.
If we just keep threatening people’s jobs every time they make a mistake, we lose the opportunity to change hearts. Then when a new person is hired, you’re starting from scratch and no progress happens. It’s like starting over…over and over again. I know true racists still exists. I am not naive about that, but most White people I have met are not actually racist, but just human beings who are still on a path to racial healing. How can people grow in relationship without conversation, listening and being heard?? What if every time I said something to offend my husband, we are locked away in separate rooms and never speak to one another? How will our marriage grow? How will he get to know me better and I him? When we hurt one another, we usually go to our marriage mentors and they help us talk it through. Each time this has happened our relationship got stronger and stronger. It is the same in other relationships. I am full of hope that the relationships broken by racism can be restored through the work of reconciliation, if we were just humble enough to try it. Instead many get offended when Black people share about a racist experience and we are accused of not “moving on.” So like any other dysfunctional relationship, we are living in a society of wounded people just trying to move on or just trying to avoid accountability.
The last school I attended from 7th through 12th grade went through a major racial change. It went from being a school where it kept trying to expel all the Black students, to being a place that celebrated Black history month and had a gospel choir. Watching that evolution was incredible. I saw hearts change. Friendships were formed (that I still have today). Teachers, students and staff became a family. I am stubborn about what I am saying, because I know it can work. I have seen this work! Bitterness is bondage, but there is freedom in forgiveness. We can only know this when we have the courage to facilitate racial healing and/or reconcilation. I have experienced this so much in my life from my K12 days until now. I know what is possible. I am literally living what is possible! One of many ways I experience this is in my continued relationship with my classmates from high school. We are still close friends today. We went on our senior trip together and you did not feel segregation. You felt genuine friendship. We now celebrate one another’s life successes, grandchildren (I got started a little late so I celebrate their grandchildren…lol), and we also grieve with one another and pray for one another. We are always trying to find ways to get together, even if we live in different states. I still get messages of encouragement and prayers from my teachers. Whenever I go visit there, I see some of my old teachers, class mates and others and it feels like home.
I look at how DEI is done in this punitive, scary and isolating way and my heart is grieved. It usually looks like a tool of White supremacy to me, used to keep minorities quiet and in their place. It is even used as a tool of power to make people feel scared about losing their job if they say the wrong thing. I don’t think people who say the wrong thing should be fired until there has been an effort to bring people together to talk it through. We all have these grave clothes from America’s racist past, that we all need to still shed. How can we grow and change without conversation, grace, listening and being given a voice to speak? I firmly believe that if everyone is given the grace to go through that process, an organization will evolve into a welcoming space for all people and a community of love will be created. People should only lose their jobs after they have gone through that process and there is resistance to change. DEI should not be that place “over there” where we all get together to gripe about how racist the system is, instead of really doing the work of changing hearts and ultimately creating a healthy and unified community.
This ends my 3 part series on “When DEI is a Scam” and I hope somehow what I have shared will be a help to someone. I have had no desire to hurt anyone, yet I needed to share my experiences to bring light to others. Maybe someone will read this who has gone through their own experiences and feels isolated. Maybe someone feels alone in those experiences because where you work has made it clear that your voice is not welcomed. Maybe someone is working in DEI and feels powerless to really bring change. These are really scary times we are in. There’s anti-EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE! I know there are people who are afraid, but hopefully I can be your voice, because I only fear the ONE who can kill my soul. Hopefully, somewhere my words can bring the necessary change towards authentic racial healing. I have learned throughout my life that the truth will always win. It may seem dark for a while, but the truth always wins. As MLK said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Blessings.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 