DEI: My Experience, Journey, and Commitments

***This post was written in 2022 when DEI efforts were gaining traction. As is inevitable, a backlash occurred and we are watching DEI efforts being downplayed, if not challenged in the courts and dismantled. But some organizations, like TGP Consulting, recognize that progress is necessary for the health of all humans and the planet. Therefore, the commitments we've made still stand. They are more relevant to us now than ever.***

~~~~~

"When we define ourselves, when I define myself, the place in which I am like you and the place in which I am not like you, I'm not excluding you from the joining-I'm broadening the joining." ~ Audre Lorde

In the wake of George Floyd and the hundreds of other Black people killed by police since then who barely made the news - Dominique Williams, Ma'Khia Bryant, and Derrick Kittling, to name a few - every organization is writing, if not being forced to write, a statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  Black people have known violence by police and their predecessors since the formation of this country; yet, George Floyd's killing acted as a wake-up call for the broader public to what is a daily injustice.

There is a big difference between writing a DEI statement as a theoretical proposition and seeking to understand the lived experience of another. 

And there is a big difference between signing your name to a DEI statement and doing the intentional work of understanding how you are complicit, hence the need for DEI in the first place.

I am a Black woman, and I've been dealing with racism, sexism, misogyny, and anti-Blackness my whole life.  I know the obvious and subtle ways these inequities rear their heads and the toll they've taken on my mental and physical health.

I know what it feels like...

• To be 'the only one.'
• To be both hyper-visible in an all-staff or board meeting, and invisible when I run into co-workers outside of work.
• To be sidelined from sharing my thoughts on an issue, excluded from joining a group outing, or to have my opinion on a matter dismissed as "not relevant."
• To feel like my A+ work isn't good enough.
• To not be listened to or believed when I've shared my stories of sexual harassment, particularly those incidents perpetuated by white men.
• To feel like I have to hold my tongue when something offensive has been said about an Asian person because it would be "a whole thing" (and my fault) if I called someone on their bad behavior in public. 

And I can only imagine how much greater the toll would be if I was also non-binary.  If I was gay or trans.  If I wore a hijab.  If I was disabled.

I could go on.

DEI is "big" now, and as a business owner, I appreciate this because it needs to be.  Unfortunately, I don't believe most DEI efforts achieve anywhere near what they should.  This failure is what has led me to rethink DEI for myself and my company.  What DEI should achieve is representation, fairness, belonging, and full participation of everyone in the workplace when taking active measures to address the impacts of centuries of supremacy that exclude and oppress those who do not fit the mold of being some combination of white, cis, straight, male, able-bodied, neuronormative, Christian, and under age 60.

If a DEI statement has any real use, it is that it codifies an institution or organization's acknowledgment that, at least in principle, and regardless of whatever failures impede its practice, there remains a need to protect everyone in the workplace instead of only privileged groups.

But, many times DEI statements are just pretty words, and DEI training is lacking if not problematic in its content and delivery, with no real understanding that self-awareness and personal responsibility are what it takes to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

So I don't have a DEI statement because I don't think any could possibly cover all the sins of the workplace. 

Instead, what I have are what could best be called a demonstration of DEI values, compelled by my lived experience as a Black person who identifies as female, and my awareness of the areas where I need to grow and evolve along my DEI journey. This takes the form of five earnest commitments I make to each member of my team and each of our clients. 

These commitments are my way of creating a workplace where the DEI values I hold are not just abstracted but enacted.