It’s perhaps convenient to think that our country’s and our Y’s sense of racial and social justice have been awakened only because of the seemingly weekly acts of violence perpetrated upon African Americans over the past many months. While those incidents have caused a reckoning in our culture, they should not and, frankly, cannot serve as the sole reason for us to face down a reality that is actually decades (and centuries) in the making. The time is long past to be exponentially better and far more intentional in assuring that, when we state that our Y is “for a better us,” we back that up with a clear plan to address the systems, policies and attitudes that prevent real racial equity in our Y.
Undoubtedly, it would have been tempting to quickly join the endless bold proclamations of support for ending racism that swelled in social media this summer. Here at the Y in Central Maryland, we chose a more deliberative approach by starting first with a clear-eyed look at our own culture and systems, asking ourselves: “how well do we truly live up to our own belief system as a Y?”
I know that self-reflection and humility don’t play well on Twitter, but I have always found them to be useful in affecting real change, either personally or professionally.
Accordingly, and with superb leadership from our Y’s African American Resource Network (AARN), Board and associates across the organization, we have spent the past few months undergoing a multi-step process of introspection about our own culture and practices. We launched ourselves on a journey of conversation, reflection and commitment to each other with the goal of becoming a better organization for all of our associates, volunteers, and, ultimately, the community.
What we’ve concluded, unsurprisingly, is that we have real work to do and that there are some concrete changes we need to make as we start this journey. We’ve committed to a plan of action which includes six specific actions that were recommended by the great Y leaders who make up our Y’s AARN. Last week we shared this plan with all Y associates in our internal enews called Us!.
A first step in that process was the development of an equity statement which publicly commits us to the work of racial equity and justice. With input and collaboration from all of the parties referenced above, our Board approved that statement in our July board meeting.
Like any document, this statement is only worthwhile if it is known and lived up to. Accordingly, beginning this week we will begin to share this statement (through multiple communication channels) with all of our external audiences, including our members, program participants, volunteers, and funders.
The publishing of this statement is by no means an end in and of itself. It is but a first step in a long walk. It is the bar we will hold ourselves accountable to and ask others who engage with us to uphold as well.
I am especially thankful to the members of our African American Resource Network, brilliantly led by Derryck Fletcher and Heather Wilson, along with so many other wonderful leaders across our Y for their insight, honesty and courage. The future may look hard to achieve, but it definitely looks like a place we want to live in.
All the best,
John
John K. Hoey
President & CEO
The Y in Central Maryland