My heart is heavy thinking of the communities who were hit hard by Hurricane Helene last week and subsequently affected again by Hurricane Milton this week. As someone whose roots are in the South, and who currently lives in the South, it saddens me to see how the region once again has natural disasters intensified by poor policies, and inequitable systems.
The climate crisis exposes the worst of White Supremacy Culture in America. It makes survival and recovery an option only for those who can afford it, and it reveals how anti-Black racism thrives even under emergency conditions.
But what does it have to do with the workplace and DEI?
Ignoring a Problem Turns it Into a Crisis
White Supremacy Culture characteristics like defensiveness, individualism, and right to comfort make up the foundation of a global climate crisis that is only expected to intensify. Pretending that climate change doesn’t exist or building solutions to it that prioritize the economy over the population turns disasters out of our control into crises that we did not have to create.
The same happens in the workplace when microaggressions and other forms of anti-Black racism pop up, and companies and organizations choose to provide patchwork solutions, or ignore the situation entirely. Closing your eyes to an issue because it makes you uncomfortable or overwhelmed to think about does not make it go away. Only by addressing it head on can change be made possible.
The Nerve of Creating a Problem, and then Refusing to Provide a Solution
Climate change, like racism, are man-made problems. They’re also both problems that this country continues to throw their hands up about, as if it’s impossible to undo the harm that’s been created.
A similar dynamic happens in the workplace where poor management and organizational structures create a working environment that is inequitable, and somehow, leadership can’t fathom how things got so bad. Disasters, both climate and corporate, are acute symptoms of systems that perpetuate inequality and harm. In these instances, accountability goes a long way. Not being personally responsible for the inequities at your company does not absolve one of the responsibility to still handle the challenge staring you down at the moment.
Shifting this dynamic requires courageous conversations and a willingness from leadership to take ownership of the conditions that have been created.
Be Mindful Not to Cause Further Harm During Recovery
Hurricane Katrina as a storm of course delivered monumental damage to New Orleans, but it was the response– or the lack thereof– from the federal government in the storm’s aftermath that made Katrina into the catastrophe we know it as today. Instead of treating the Black citizens of New Orleans with care during the most vulnerable moment of their life, the state instead doubled down on its callousness, leaving entire communities to fend for themselves.
That same energy is applied in the workplace, where even during things like anti-bias trainings or other DEI initiatives, further harm is created for Black and Brown employees who realize the extent of their company’s racist and inequitable tendencies. Shifting this requires leadership to center the needs of those who are most directly being harmed.
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