2021 Community Success Forum: Dismantling Systemic Racism Recap
“Understanding the nation’s racial history is essential to dismantling systemic racism – the problem is history is poorly understood, hence systemic racism persists.” – Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Dr. Muhammad is a professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He kicked off this year’s annual Community Success Forum, presented by Bank of America, which attracted over 630 participants, speaking on the history of racial disparities amongst African-Americans and minorities. This conversation has gained more traction within the last year and it is so important to keep the momentum going.
In his keynote, Dr. Muhammad outlined the impact of socio-economic outliers and government enforced legislation that has impacted minority communities across the country both past and present. One thing he pointed out was that while the impacts of policies are disproportionately felt by people of color, “systemic racism is not just harmful to Black people, it’s harmful to ALL people.” In the same vein, working to dismantle systemic racism will benefit everyone.
After understanding the history of systemic racism, how can we localize this information to create change? Sara Lawrence, program director of economic development at RTI International, shared information about a blueprint for action to dismantle systemic racism that RTI is partnering with the Triangle DEI Alliance to create. This dynamic blueprint will reflect the needs of the community and institutionalize a mechanism for change in Wake County.
This blueprint will prioritize four key pillars of focus in society that are impacted by systemic racism, which our panel spoke on: education, health, criminal justice and economic mobility. Each panelist gave an insight on how they are working to dismantle racism, especially through their employers and respective industries.
However, behind every courageous conversation there needs to be courageous actions.
So what things are fundamental to change in North Carolina that we can get done right now? Each of our panelists shared the biggest change they would like to see within their jurisdictions:
Expanding Medicaid
Expanding educational access and opportunities for children
Adequately funding defense systems so attorneys can provide a good defense to every client
Continue supporting accelerated employment and job creation to build ecosystems that support access to capital for marginalized communities
Through these efforts, we can work to build others up and ultimately create a societal model that is superior for everyone.
You can check out Virginia Parker’s, Senior VP/Triangle Market Manager of Bank of America, WRAL interview on the event here.
This is an important conversation and we are pleased to have brought the community together to participate in the discussion. As you heard during the forum, the Triangle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Alliance is launching a blueprint study led by RTI International. Thank you to Wake County Government, City of Raleigh, and Duke Energy for your support of the study.