Many people believe that the movement toward anti-racism is new, however, it has long history of efforts. According to Wikipedia, there have been several attempts to shift the

• European’s origins: European racism was spread to the Americas by the Europeans, but establishment views were questioned when they were applied to indigenous peoples. After the discovery of the New World, many of the members of the clergy who were sent to the New World who were educated in the new humane values of the Renaissance, still new in Europe and not ratified by the Vatican, began to criticize Spain’s as well as their own Church’s treatment and views of indigenous peoples and slaves.
• Quaker initiative: In 1688, with the “Germantown Petition Against Slavery”, German immigrants created the first American document of its kind that made a plea for equal human rights for everyone.
• Abolitionist movement: Later successes in opposing racism were won by the abolitionist movement in England and in the United States. Though many Abolitionists did not regard blacks or mulattos as equal to whites, they did, in general, believe in freedom and often even equality of treatment for all people. A few, like John Brown, went further. Brown was willing to die on behalf of, as he said, “millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments …” Many black Abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass, explicitly argued for the humanity of blacks and mulattoes, and the equality of all people.
• Scientific anti-racism: Friedrich Tiedemann was one of the first people to scientifically contest racism. In 1836, using craniometric and brain measurements (taken by him from Europeans and black people from different parts of the world), he refuted the belief of many contemporary naturalists and anatomists that black people have smaller brains and are thus intellectually inferior to white people, saying it was scientifically unfounded and based merely on the prejudiced opinions of travelers and explorers.
• After the end of seclusion in the 1850s, Japan signed unequal treaties, the so-called Ansei Treaties, but soon came to demand equal status with the Western powers. Correcting that inequality became the most urgent international issue of the Meiji government. In that context, the Japanese delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference proposed the clause in the Covenant of the League of Nations.
• 21^st Century revival: Mass mobilization around the Black Lives Matter(#BLM) movement have sparked a renewed interest in antiracism in the U.S. Mass movement organizing has also been accompanied by academic efforts to foreground research regarding antiracism in politics, criminal justice reform, inclusion in higher education, and workplace antiracism.
• Ibram X. Kendi is an American author, professor, anti-racist activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in America. In July 2020, he assumed the position of director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. Kendi was included in Time‘s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Dr. Kendi is a published author and won critical acclaim with his New York Times #1 Best Seller in 2020. How to Be an Antiracist is Kendi’s most popular work thus far. Professor Jeffrey C. Stewart called it the “most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind”

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Purpose of anti-racism efforts

As you begin your racism efforts, it’s important to establish your organization’s “why.” It helps you identify the problem you’re trying to solve and the impact you ultimately want to have. Make your commitment visible, and invest in and assign resources in the same way you would any other business strategy. Using your “why” helps you to communicate your purpose and have it as a guiding light to your anti-racism efforts.

According to Harvard Business Review, Black executives are greatly underrepresented in CEOs and C-suite roles, and the jobs that lead to that level.

• There are only four Black CEOs on the 2020 Fortune 500. Black women make up 7.4% of the population but only 1.6% of vice presidents and 1.4% of C-suite leaders.
• We need to be much more intentional about creating opportunities for Black talent to take on new and challenging roles, including assignments with P&L responsibilities.
• Just as important is mentorship and sponsorship for junior and mid-career Black talent so they are willing and able to seize growth opportunities.

Pillars of anti-racist work

Below is an excerpt from Harvard Business Review’s article “What an Anti-racist Business Strategy Looks Like” where the article suggest that every business leader should think critically about the next four Ps, in an order, and at a pace that matches their business and strategic intent for this work.

• Purchasing power is one important way to address issues of wealth creation and jobs. Assess your supply chain from multiple angles and design a supplier diversity program that reflects your brand, your racial equity strategy, and the communities you serve. Ensure the right mix of BIPOC and local vendors — not just for raw materials or products but also for services like legal, marketing and IT. Understand how much business you have with Black-owned companies and work to increase it.
• Philanthropy and community investment should leverage the financial and strategic assets across your businesses. Make a commitment to long-term, sustainable support of time, talent, financial resources, and expertise, including pro-bono volunteerism and board service.
• Policy both inside and outside your organization – will be key to creating an equitable system. Examine your company’s policies and practices with an anti-racist lens. In addition to getting your own house in order, determine which regional and national legislation will be critical for you to influence or support. Remember: This is about policy, not politics — admittedly challenging these days.
• Place is about focusing investments in the communities most impacted by racial inequity. The goal is to create sustained, positive cycles of economic development and regeneration, and remove the systems that have fostered inequities and disparities. Netflix’s commitment to putting 2% of its cash holdings in financial institutions that serve the Black community — thereby increasing access to financing in these areas — is a good example of a business taking a place-based approach.

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According to Wikipedia, Racism in the United States comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in the United States, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and actions (including violence) at various times in the history of the United States against racial or ethnic groups. Throughout American history, white Americans have generally enjoyed legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights, which have been denied to members of various ethnic or minority groups at various times. European Americans, particularly affluent white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, are said to have enjoyed advantages in matters of education, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure.

Racism against various ethnic or minority groups has existed in the United States since the early colonial era. Before 1865, most African Americans were enslaved and even afterwards, they have faced severe restrictions on their political, social, and economic freedoms. Native Americans have suffered genocide, forced removals, and massacres, and they continue to face discrimination. Hispanics, Middle Eastern and Asian Americans along with Pacific Islanders have also been the victims of discrimination. In addition, non-Protestant immigrants from Europe, particularly Jews, Poles, Italians, and the Irish were often subjected to xenophobic exclusion and other forms of ethnicity-based discrimination.

Racism has manifested itself in a variety of ways, including genocide, slavery, lynchings, segregation, Native American reservations and boarding schools, racist immigration and naturalization laws, and internment camps. Formal racial discrimination was largely banned by the mid-20th century and over time, coming to be perceived as socially and morally unacceptable. Racial politics remains a major phenomenon, and racism continues to be reflected in socioeconomic inequality.^[1][b] Into the 21st century, research has uncovered extensive evidence of racial discrimination in various sectors of modern U.S. society, including the criminal justice system, business, the economy, housing, health care, the media, and politics. In the view of the United Nations and the U.S. Human Rights Network, “discrimination in the United States permeates all aspects of life and extends to all communities of color.”^[3]

There are many great external video resources from PBS. We’ll add them below for quick reference, but you can find the full video library HERE.

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