Advancing Racial Equity: Where We’re Starting

Dear Friends, Earlier this month, I posted a brief message on social media in reaction to the murder of George Floyd. In the days since, our board and staff have begun considering our opportunities to advance racial equity in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

We acknowledge we have our own work to do. Our board and staff understand racism from our own individual perspectives. We haven’t taken the time to learn together about systemic racism. We hold no shared understanding of racial equity or agreements on the role advancing racial equity must play in our work.  Learning can seem like an indulgence or an easy way out when significant, urgent actions are required. We think learning is a necessary start. Building our collective knowledge will lay the foundation for smarter, more effective action. A natural lane for our Foundation may be lifting up racism as a public health crisis, advancing practices that address health disparities and policies that dismantle the conditions that perpetuate those disparities. But I’m not really certain where we’ll land. As we learn, we will identify opportunities and set priorities that align with our mission, vision and strategic plan. You may already be working to promote racial equity in your organization. If so, please share what’s been helpful to your learning and how you’re translating learning into action. If, like us you’re just beginning, countless resources are available. I urge you to start anywhere. Below are recommendations we’ve gathered from trusted sources. While most of our funding in the near term is earmarked for COVID-19 response and recovery, we also welcome the opportunity to support your efforts to advance racial equity in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Both crises are urgent, intersectional and vital to the health of our communities. Both underscore how very much the well-being of each of us is tied to one another. In partnership,

LaTida Smith President and CEO Moses Taylor Foundation

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Resources

To inspire learning and thinking about racial equity, we've compiled a few clickable resource links.

Articles:

• “The Curb Cut Effect”(Angela Glover Blackwell)

• “The Groundwater Approach: Building a Practical Understanding of Structural Racism” (Racial Equity Institute)

• “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (Peggy McIntosh)

• “Who Gets to be Afraid in America” (Ibram X. Kendi)

Books

• "Can We Talk About Race?" (Beverly Tatum)

• "How to Be an Antiracist" (Ibram X. Kendi)

• "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" (Michelle Alexander)

• "White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism"(Robin DiAngelo)

Movies/Videos/Webinars:

• "The Impact of Racism on the Health and Well-Being of the Nation" (American Public Health Association)

• "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?" (PBS)

• "What is Systemic Racism?" (Race Forward)