by | Feb 25, 2022
Tips From the Experts: Being Antiracist with Expert Guest, Lauren N. Nile
An opening message from Bridget: February was Black History Month. Today is March 1. Does that mean we’re all finished with our antiracist work for the year? Absolutely not. We hope you’ll join us in keeping up a strong commitment to fostering equity for all in our workplaces and communities every day of the year. Reading my dear friend and mentor Lauren N. Nile’s tips below would be a great start.
1. Forget & Never Forget that I’m a Person of Color
Maya Angelou said it best. To paraphrase her – When you meet me, the first thing I want you to do is forget that I’m black, and just treat me as a human being, not as a black human being. The second thing I want you to do is never forget that I’m black. What I mean is, don’t mention within two minutes of meeting me, that you knew a black kid in your high school, or that your best friend is black, or that your brother and his wife adopted a black kid. Just relate to me as a human being. But then secondly, never forget that I have an entire lifetime of experiences that will impact how certain things, certain kinds of humor, particular words, etc. will land with me. So when you meet me, I’d like you to be cognizant of both.
2. Educate Yourself About Unearned Privilege
Unearned privilege doesn’t mean that you had a great life, that you were born rich, that you had no problems, that you didn’t have to work for what you have. It doesn’t mean that you were raised, upper-middle-class. It just means that there are lots of things that you can take for granted, that you don’t have to think about, such as your life or your safety being at risk because of your race.
3. Be Aware of the Daily Indignities People of Color Face
Daily indignities are the things that people of color experience every single day. Maybe three weeks ago, once again I was profiled in a department store. I was checking out at one of the self-check-out stations. There were maybe eight stations in a square. I watched the white employee assigned to the self-check-out stations stand there the entire time watching me until I checked my last item. I took my receipt, paid, then left. He then left, leaving all 5 or 6 of the white customers behind me, in the process of checking their things out. He didn’t have to watch them.
*Lauren’s comments above were adapted from our interview with her on episode 16 of The Right Questions podcast. To learn much more from Lauren, check out the entire episode: WATCH HERE! or listen on any major podcast app.
Meet Lauren!
Lauren N. Nile is the author of RACE: My Story & Humanity’s Bottom Line. We highly recommend reading this life-changing, eye-opening book. You can purchase it here. She is also a keynote speaker, trainer, and retired attorney. Lauren has 31 years of broad experience in designing, developing, and implementing a wide range of Organizational Development activities intended to assist organizations in increasing both their empathy and their emotional intelligence. Lauren has been quoted in the Washington Post, Business Week, and the Christian Science Monitor, and has been interviewed on the Fox Network Morning News.
