Messaging about equity and racial justice: Part II

A few years ago, I wrote a piece about messaging on equity and racial justice. As a freelance writer and communications strategist, at that time I was getting asked to write about organization- and sector-wide efforts to center racial equity in work-related contexts. There was clearly a lot of momentum, especially in the social sector, to “do more” on racial equity—with “more” being defined in many different ways.

During the past four years—in which time the global pandemic has waxed and waned, and countless Americans witnessed and have grappled with the horrifying murder of George Floyd—I’ve informally tracked what people were feeling and saying about our country’s turbulent and often problematic history with racial justice, and also what they were doing to work towards a more equitable future, both as individuals and within their organizations. The fact that I was doing this work at all, after years of not doing it, and not talking about it, both filled me with hope and a refreshed appetite to help people navigate their way through conversations and work that are by nature complicated, multi-layered, and emotional.

Equity-focused work is not, by any definition, easy. There are no silver bullets. One has to decide where to begin. One has to decide what progress could look like, and feel like. One has to decide how a commitment to equity-centered work could be sustained and built upon, over time. One might also have to forego the idea that progress will be linear, and that outcomes will be clear, and unmistakable. And the “one” I am referring to is not one person. It is us—groups of people, from small to large groups, who are choosing what level of equity-centered work to take on, who it will involve, who it could most benefit, and how to align expectations about what the work will feel like and look like.  And for those of us who engage in this work, accepting the nature and the complexity of the work is a necessary prerequisite before we can make progress on moving towards a more just and equitable society.  

I wrote that first piece on messaging about equity and racial justice in 2021. Then in June of 2023, the Supreme Court issued its decision on race-based college admissions. I want to be clear that I think the decision sucks. Not just for the actual specifics of the decision, and how it ignores the very real and extensive history of oppression and injustice in this country, but also because of the decision’s effects, direct and indirect, on equity-focused work. We have now entered a new phase of equity-focused work and again, let me remind you that equity-focused work was already a complex undertaking.

What does this new phase of complexity look like?

• Attacks on work-based DEI programs and policies are increasing. Even though the SCOTUS decision was focused on race-based college admissions, the decision has opened the door for attacks and backsliding with respect to any programs designed to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. While the decision itself specifically barred race-conscious college admissions policies, and NOT DEI programs everywhere, the bad actors, I’m afraid, are already arming their weapons. There are lawsuits being brought against nonprofits and philanthropic organizations seeking to bar race as a consideration for grantmaking, fellowships, and mentorships. There are media outlets reporting that backlash against DEI programs is fierce, and growing.
• Fear, risk-aversion, and just plain backsliding will take hold. For organizations that have, in the past few years, ramped up public commitments to racial justice, the SCOTUS decision is, without a doubt, precipitating a great deal of anxiety and fear and hand-wringing. This is a larger-scale version of what it feels like when your organization is the target of baseless attacks from the media or trolls, which can feel slightly terrifying if your organization lacks the capacity or expertise on how to assess the threat and whether/how to respond.
• Those with the least resources will suffer the most from the attacks. There are many nonprofit organizations that exist to address racial inequity in multiple fields and sectors. Do many of these organizations have access to and resources for smart legal and communications advice about how to proactively communicate about their work centers equity, and what to do in the event of a legal challenge?  Somehow, I do not think so.

So what should we all do, to gird our loins for this latest round of attacks against equity-focused work?

• Educate everyone in your organization about what the decision said, and what it didn’t, and what could potentially be coming. Yes, I said “everyone.” While it may be an executive leader’s function to lead the organization in deciding what to do about potential threats and risks, the work of making progress on racial equity and justice is a values-driven endeavor. And if your organization lists equity and justice as core values, then everyone, from leadership to communications to the front-desk receptionist, should be living those values. Organizations get stronger when their employees have a share in the core values, and when everyone does their part to express and lean into those values. Here’s a suggestion: share a resource like this excellent brief from Public Equity Group. Then make space for your employees to ask questions about the decision and have discussions about what the organization is and isn’t doing to prepare for or respond to the potential threats stemming from the decision.
• Check your organizational communications about what you’ve committed to with respect to centering equity in your work. Check, in particular, for specificity and for your supporting data points. If you have a statement that says, “We are committed to equity in our work,” without offering any details, now is the time to add those details. State how your commitment translates into your organization’s internal and external processes. State how your commitment shows up in the work that your organization is doing. State why centering equity is so essential to the work your organization does, e.g.,  if your organization helps increase educational outreach to Black women who need maternal health care, your talking points should say something like, “Study after study shows that Black women are XX% less likely to get the recommended maternal health care services than white women.”
• For funders: Support the readiness of nonprofit organizations to meet these attacks on racial equity and justice on both the communications and the legal fronts. It is one thing for foundations, in the wake of the SCOTUS decision, to puff their chests out proudly and say that they’re more committed than ever to racial justice and equity. Foundations are literally built out of money. Which means that they have the resources to find the lawyers who will defend them against frivolous lawsuits. (Keep in mind that while many frivolous lawsuits are ultimately dismissed, others, depending on the political climate and who’s in power, can eventually creep their way up to the United States Supreme Court. This is why it is imperative to fight truly terrible legislation like the 1864 law on abortion that Arizona just resurrected at every possible level, and with the ballot box.) Foundations can also hire the communications and opinion research firms that will help them come up with the most compelling ways to message and communicate about this work. However, nonprofit organizations usually do not have the same level of resources. So for all foundations that support capacity-building in the fields they fund, that have ALSO come out strong on racial justice and equity in the past few years, now is the time to put your money in the game. Some suggestions: 1) Start a pooled fund to help grantees meet these legal attacks. 2) Hire an intermediary to do research on where legal services might be accessed for these types of cases and share that knowledge when it becomes available. 3) Support a cross-funder effort to do message research on why centering equity is so vital to a particular body of work. (It’s vital to all bodies of work, actually, but people tend to engage in this work most effectively when it’s within their own familiar contexts.) Share those messages widely and keep on funding multiple rounds of message research and training, too, to keep people abreast of the latest bellwether sentiment on whether the narratives and discourse are starting to shift. 4) And keep communications and legal defense efforts integrated. I can’t say that enough. Don’t pretend that it’s business as usual—like, hey, we’re just doing our thing while these attacks are raining down on our head! One of the most effective messages ACLU sent out after our Former Orange Dictator instigated the ban on Muslim individuals? “We’ll see you in court.” Communicate about what is happening, what’s being done about it, and most importantly, why it’s so vital to continue to center racial justice and equity in the work we do.

Let’s be real. It’s going to take a long time to overturn the SCOTUS decision, if it ever happens. But in the meantime, we can still move forward on racial equity and justice. We need real-time information and resources to do it. And most of all, we need alignment and commitment from everyone that we are moving forward with this work. I will be completely unsurprised by organizations that backslide on their equity and justice statements because it will simply tell me that they weren’t all that committed to begin with, and that their efforts were largely performative and hollow. But it will be a heartbreaking tragedy if organizations that were already making progress on centering equity in their work, with heart and brilliance and commitment, are litigated and attacked out of existence.