We were lucky to get the chance to sit down with Jarell Skinner-Roy, who wrote a powerful article on dismantling white supremacy in nonprofits.
Here’s the link to listen to the podcast!
1) Jarell, what is your background in the nonprofit sector?
2) In your YNPN Twin Cities article, you ask people in nonprofit organizations to know and explicitly acknowledge the history, existence, and pervasiveness of white supremacy. What does that look like?
3) I’ve written a few grants, and it seemed like everything had to be in grantspeak to get the funders to fund it. What’s wrong with using terms like “at-risk”? Why shouldn’t we use deficit-based narratives and language?
4) What happens when we over-use negative statistics?
5) What is ethical nonprofit story-telling? How can we commit more fully to ethical storytelling?
6) Why is it important to look at who wields power and influence in your organization, and who doesn’t?
7) What was the response to your article that you got?
What can you do now?
- Continue to find ways to engage across difference
- Enough with the deficit based narrative and language
- White supremacy is not inevitable, it can be dismantled. What is YOUR commitment to help?
Resources:
Jarell Skinner-Roy is here: LinkedIn and On Twitter: @jskinnerroy
From the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan the SALT Model on Critical Consciousness
What is the SALT Model?
Social oppression and systemic inequities are a global problem of paramount importance (Omi & Winant, 1990). Over the last decade within the U.S., the Occupy Wall Street movement, #BlackLivesMatter, and waves of protests have shed new light on old problems related to systemic oppression and renewed calls for justice (Museus, Ledesma, & Parker, 2015). At the same time, those who seek to uphold the current social order have responded to and resisted social movements that aim to advance equity. Given these realities, it has never been more important for society to cultivate leaders who are able to understand these systemic contexts and play critical roles in advancing the well-being of all populations, especially those from underserved and historically marginalized communities.
The vast majority o f discourse on leadership does not explicitly acknowledge the aforementioned social and political contexts, or explain how these systems of oppression and inequities intersect with leadership (Dugan, 2017). The current brief introduces a new leadership framework that accounts for the larger body of knowledge related to systemic oppression, power and privilege, and culture and identity.The SALT model denotes an explicit focus on leadership that is socially conscious and facilitates transformation to achieve justice.
Here’s his original article at YNPN (Young Nonprofit Professionals Network) Twin Cities: Dismantling White Supremacy in Nonprofits: a starting point
Mission Mirroring: What it is?
For the Wild Podcast Episode: John A Powell on Institutions of Othering and Radical Belonging
if you’d like to learn more about white supremacy, take a listen to our interview with Desiree Adaway
or check out interview with Kishshana Palmer on racism in the nonprofit sector