Responses to Issues of Racial Justice

As the nation grappled with the shock of COVID-19, another seismic issue made world news—systemic racism. The reverberations of the widely reported racialized murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery ignited global attention and provoked protests against racial injustice across America. In a letter sent at that time to members and friends of the Institute, Samuel J. Meisels, the Institute’s founding executive director, asserted,

We cannot allow this to happen. We can no longer tolerate inequities and injustice. We must become reliable allies—allies whom those in need can turn to and trust. We must also be ready to step back, listen, and learn to show our support by recognizing the leadership of those who bear the heaviest burden of discrimination, inequity, and abuse.

Standing in solidarity with those who bear the physical, mental, and emotional scars of racism and oppression, the Institute formally recommitted itself to supporting racial justice and increasing equity in all its work. In Meisels’s words,

The Institute is deeply committed to justice for all. Our mission revolves around helping children and families and strengthening the societies in which they live.

Children and families cannot thrive when individuals or groups are unfairly treated and denied opportunity based on race, culture, language, or religion. We are committed to change. Our children deserve no less.

Issues of inequity based on bias and discrimination related to race, ethnicity, gender identity, class, and other perceived differences permeate our society and reach into the Institute as well. In the Institute's first few years, we learned that we needed to build a common understanding about these issues and work toward common experiences in order to effectively undertake equity work on behalf of young children. As a result, the Institute created a diversity committee, enlisted consultants, and scheduled diversity and equity workshops to help us navigate internal race-related conversations. Despite our best intentions, the Institute’s response fell into what has been called a “dysfunctional cycle of equity work.”85

The passion of the diversity team faded, required workshops did not result in material changes, and internal conversations shifted to other matters.85,86

The racialized events of 2020 brought a renewed sense of urgency to the Institute. We felt the need to go beyond the optics of promoting equity to disrupting the dysfunctional cycle of equity work we had undertaken previously. Our approach included establishing an internal equity program that moved us from performative to sustained action.

In this approach we recognize that issues of inequity permeate nearly everything in our society, including the Institute, and we understand that overcoming inequities requires an active willingness to challenge and dismantle systemic bias. Our internal equity program moves us beyond the optics of promoting equality to making equity an intentional foundation and perspective in our daily work. We are guided by the following principles:

• Individuals will understand how their own identities and positions impact how we understand and relate to one another and how we interact with our partners and the communities we serve.

• We will acquire skills, strategies, and tools necessary for engaging in equity-centered conversations.

• We will gain a better understanding of how historical and present-day inequities contribute to persistent systemic biases.

The Institute’s equity program is sponsored by Institute executive leaders, led by the director of professional learning, managed within the Professional Learning unit’s portfolio of work, and executed in collaboration with Institute team members and partners throughout the university system. Furthermore, reaching our goal of building a strong, equitable, inclusive, and diverse organization is understood to be the responsibility of the Institute as a whole.

We intend to live, work and raise our children in a world where diversity is celebrated, where opportunity is extended to all, and where every individual is treated equitably, regardless of the color of their skin.