Emails Are Not Enough — There Is Work To Be Done
In my Organizational Dynamics graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, we often talk about making the implicit (what is implicitly or internally known) explicit (to what is explicitly stated and externally acknowledged). With that being said, emails are not enough. There is work to be done.
Black Lives Matter is an explicit thing, but clearly, many people in this world need to be reminded of such. These past few days have been a blur in some ways and clearer than ever before in others. I have moved in and out of feeling many things and feeling overwhelmed, to feeling nothing and being numb.
My way of seeing has shifted. I wear glasses but the world still feels a bit blurry right now as if I’m wearing nothing at all. I feel the headache from too much pressure — and no not because my satin scarf is too tight. Sometimes I forget to wear it as I forget to take care of myself in all of this.
I have received ample “check-ins”, been asked many questions of “what can I do more of now?” by those who in actuality have no difference in their lives from today and last week, last month, or last year. I have been exhausted by this — and not so much outright exhausted because I’m focusing my energy appropriately — but more so, exhausted by the idea of even beginning to educate another human being on why my existence as a human being like this matters the way it does.
This has found me in Facebook group comment sections, talking back and forth with some who listen and some who need to just shut the hell up and listen. It has found me on Instagram, creating content for healing. It has found me feeling the weight of my partner’s head on my chest at night, heavier than before, words I want to say running through my mind but not wanting to disturb his sleep and peace, afraid of a moment where it may end, and where it may be permanent all at once. I have held him tighter. I have held myself tighter.
Today I am reminded to make what is implicit, explicit for myself. I am explicitly saying to own my own power in the face of all things that wish to harm me. I did not become Black this week, or a week ago, or a month ago. I have been Black for almost 25 years. There are many people who have been, too — for much longer. The newness of all of this is disgusting. The idea of surprise. Surely, this must be the most profound magic trick. Voilà, Black people are suddenly oppressed in systemic ways. Let us all now take a stand in the year 2020.
When I consider the implicit and explicit amongst all that is occurring in the world right now (all that really has been occurring forever, but has a light on it at the moment), I think of myself. It has taken some time to realize this as I ponder the discomfort disguised behind the faces of white people pressing their mouths together in a quasi-smirk of performative activism and empathy. What I have come to realize is that it is my existence as a Black woman, all of our existences as Black people, that is this explicit notion. The discomfort is what is implicit.
Emails are not enough. There is work to be done.
Anti-Blackness is the foundation of this country as much as the foundation of this country is stolen land. Its foundation, its inception, literally derives from stolen land and stolen people. And as such, anti-racism is essential for forward movement and revolution. Anti-racism is not something that many have considered. Instead, they wade in the comforting embrace of neutrality, blissfully unknowing, and uncaring in the same breath. This neutrality is unacceptable. And it is this lack of neutrality that is strange.
It’s easy to make note of what is strange to us. It is not so easy to pay attention to what we think is normal and okay. This time overall has been forcing many of us to consider and establish a new normal. What could a new normal look like for you? Take what you have known about the world and flip it, shake it, play with it. Melt it down and rebuild it again. That is what is being asked right now. Not to simply press “send” on an email or text and wipe your hands and be done.
In this explicitness, I have noticed areas that are being “aware”. Brands and platforms state where they stand, add links, resources, etc. They show up or show face. Which one is more real is to be determined.
In the workforce though, what is implicit remains a hushed thing. The emails acknowledge, but the Zoom calls don’t. The meetings don’t. The verbiage, the words, the non-Black faces on the other end of the screens do not acknowledge.
I write this post to say that what is implicitly known can no longer sit in the back of an uncomfortable throat, rumbling slightly and pressing for permission to come forward without a downpour. This must be a storm as violent as any other. It must become explicitly known in conference “rooms”, Zoom calls, Teams meetings, conversations in passing. And it must not be the labor of yet another Black body to raise another white one. This work is work I will do until I am no longer here, but it is not my responsibility to mother anyone into understanding. I will not nourish you as you try to wither me.
Why is everyone uncomfortable? What is so uncomfortable about reality? These are questions that must be asked. Where can space be made when there previously was none? And who is surprised amongst everyone at this magic trick? How can they understand there was never a trick at all? These are things that must be considered.
I have created and propose an initiative of AAA “Triple-A” for you to consider (you being the non-Black reader, in need of considerations). We can call it, “The AAA Initiative For Anti-Racism”. Here is another resource. Here is a place to start.
Acknowledgment: Start with acknowledging current events. Speak up. Open your mouth like you open it any other time. Your Black friends and coworkers don't want you to ask them how it feels to be Black, they just want to witness the acknowledgment that something is different as you educate yourself on what that something is. This does not mean asking them directly, it means facilitating and encouraging explicit conversations in their presence as much as the implicit racism is enacted.
Action: Action must be taken. There are many things to consider. Here are a few: What are some ways that action can be taken that retain effectiveness on several layers? What has been your experience of Black people? When have you witnessed racism? Did you speak up? If so, why? If not, why? What are you teaching your children and family? How are you teaching? When are you teaching? Do you feel you are omitted from this process of questioning? Do you feel this isn’t your problem and your individual contribution to bettering it won’t matter? If you can recycle when the earth is dying and make your contribution to the collective world in that way, why can’t you do the same and do your part for the world by contributing to the rights of Black lives? Are we not also dying with the world?
Support more Black businesses and creatives, hire more Black employees and support their advancement in the workplace with equal vigor as non-Black counterparts. Give Black women their respect, stop harassing Black men just for being, and give Black people the credit for their labor, both past, and present. Donate to Black organizations and engage in consistent anti-racist work. Engage with intersectionality as it is a profound component of this work. Here are links to resources to start. Shoutout to the creators and contributors of this. Take the Implicit Bias test here.
Amity: We have spent enough time feeling excluded and disallowed. If you want to stand in solidarity, stand in true community. Permit the feeling of true community and connection. To remove the “other”-edness. To not feel a hand clasped on a flinching shoulder, but a genuine embrace and normalcy. Welcoming the “new normal”. And no, you do not have to ask, “Am I doing it right?” You have to consider, instead, when you give a gift and someone truly appreciates the attention to detail you provided, they will return to you with acknowledgment. “Thank you for paying attention.” “Thank you for listening.” “Thank you for trying to understand.” These are things that are said when the work is authentic. When the work holds weight.
So start here, maybe. An “A” a day will keep the racism away. Embrace the work. It will not be easy. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be a revolution.
I mourn on many levels. I mourn at the Black bodies that have passed and are still passing. The ones who will pass still. I mourn at the inkling of hope that builds and then dissipates from an email to a meeting, met with the reality that this is a hushed thing as silent as knowing babies are born but never acknowledging how they are brought about. It’s too vulgar, too grotesque to say how much blood and pain there was to birth this new thing.
But this is a time of newness and birth. Rebirth even, in a way, as much as it is a time of death. It requires blood and pain and it requires what is internally known to become externally shared. To any non-Black people reading this, here is a Black woman laboring for you yet again. It is okay to be uncomfortable. You should not stay silent on those conference calls. You should not only converse about happy hours, or the weather, or bonding activities and dismiss those who have nuanced lives that do, in fact, matter.
This is real. This is life. This is now. And this matters enough to disrupt that discomfort in your throat. To ask you even, to swallow it and speak up.
Here are my Venmo and CashApp btw. Reparations for generations. Sending love always. Stay posted, stay tuned for more, subscribe to my Youtube channel, and buy my book! (When it restocks on June 19th). Byeeee ❤️