These moments matter
Brave leaders are never silent about the hard things (Brené Brown), and while I had a great idea for the email, this is more important. Within the health system in New Zealand, there is an acknowledgement that COVID-19 will have a greater impact on Māori and Pacific communities. The health inequities for these communities already exist, and the response to COVID-19 will have made these worse. We have urgent work to do to address this. Then we see the death of George Floyd in America and the consequences that this again brings forth. I can sit quietly in the safety of my white privilege, angry and incensed, or I can do something, I can write.
I've read a lot the last couple of days but still wondered how best to present and frame these for you. This does not feel like my area of expertise, nor am I particularly comfortable about how to phrase things when it comes to racism. What wouldn't leave me alone though were the nagging words from Brené Brown in her Netflix special, that my comfort is not at the centre of these conversations, my comfort is not what matters here. To choose not to have these conversations or not to write about these issues is the very definition of privilege. She continues with the motivation to choose courage over comfort, to say the hard things that need to be said. I'm probably not going to nail this first (or second or third) time, but I won't stay quiet about it.
The phrasing of white privilege or white supremacy is the first topic to tackle. The first time I came across it, I was a bit offended. Seriously, I'm a good person, I'm not racist, and that cannot apply to me. Oh boy, how wrong I was. This is tough work. Check out this article - What is White Privilege Really? It kindly defines racism and white privilege, it's a good starting point. To get to the real work here though, take a look at Layla Saad. I started her workbook Me and White Supremacy and felt sick from the start. This is tough, uncomfortable stuff. I couldn't finish it in one go. The workbook is now a book, there is also a podcast and a powerful Instagram feed. She will urge you to do the work and the closer to the social majority you are, the more work there is to do. It's up to you to do that work.
Another good definition for me came from this TED talk, by Baratunde Thurston - in which he defines white supremacy "as a system of structural advantage that favours white people in social, political and economic areas". I'd highly recommend the TED talk - so much so I did actually write a recommendation - hits with humour......calls to action with hope. TED is full of powerful talks that will reinforce the need and the actions that can be taken. Such as walking towards your biases, or taking away the power of the symbols of systemic racism
It is not the job of those who have suffered or been targeted by racism to do this work, it isn't their job to educate or to build the tables for the conversations to happen. It has to fall to white people to do this work. This short video is a good example of doing the work in a really simple situation. This article presents you with a toolkit for using your white privilege for good - below is the list of foundations. The article has further depth and more resources. This Instagram post also has a list of books and educators that are worth digging into. There is work to do, books to read and perspectives to understand.
Don’t take it personally or use discomfort as an excuse to disengage.
Learn when to listen, when to amplify and when to speak up.
Educate yourself.
Educate fellow white people.
Risk your unearned benefits to benefit others.
Brave leaders are never silent about the hard things. These are hard conversations. When you look at this report, as leaders in healthcare how do you have this conversation? Rather than talk about people, we have to talk to people. We can't have these conversations if we armour up, prize and recognise perfectionism over vulnerability and open hearts. That is the work of us all, creating the space, the safety to be able to choose courage over comfort and to never be silent about the hard things.
