Member-only story
How to Build Anti-Racist Systems — Not Slogans and Pins
Spoiler Alert: Your white-approved diversity training was always a placebo. Here’s the surgery.
I see so much wailing and gnashing of teeth about DEI. The truth is, DEI was never meant to dismantle racism. It was never meant to really give Black and Brown people a leg up towards an equal footing. White-believing racists don’t give away anything to non-white-believing people. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) was designed to manage racism, not dismantle it. The aim was to turn what they considered radical demands for equity into HR-approved “training modules.” DEI rebranded exclusion as a “pipeline problem.”
A 2023 Harvard Business Review study found that 72% of DEI initiatives focus on “awareness” over actionable change — because awareness doesn’t threaten profit margins. It does not threaten power. It does not even pass the rod of power to Brown and Black people.
Take Starbucks. After the 2018 Philadelphia arrests of two Black men, they closed 8,000 stores for a day of “racial bias training.” Cue headlines about progress. It’s a fabulous media stunt since it was in vogue, and Black and Brown people love Starbucks. Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board just cited them for illegally firing pro-union Black baristas. Training…
