I'm Still Black and You're Still Racist (aka why your pro-diversity culture is hiding racist parasites)(without speaker notes)

Abstract: Today every organization is pro-diversity. They exclaim it on their websites and list all the great things they do in their job descriptions. Which is good. Like, way better than it was. But, not many organizations are doing the hard work at increasing inclusion amongst their team members. Hard conversations are not being had. Changes are only superficial. It’s still uncomfortable for me in my black skin to exist in these majority white spaces because white folks are still uncomfortable with my black skin. In this talk we’re going to address these truths head on. I’ll share my own and other black developers experiences and we will walk through ways you can develop the empathy, patience and courage needed to be okay working beside a black person tomorrow. (This version does not include the speaker notes)

Resources
Tech Leavers - https://www.kaporcenter.org/tech-leavers/
EEOC - https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/reports/hightech/
NSF - https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Brookings - https://www.brookings.edu/research/black-and-hispanic-underrepresentation-in-tech-its-time-to-change-the-equation/
McKinsey Study - https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters
Inc - https://www.inc.com/greg-satell/science-says-diversity-can-make-your-team-more-productive-but-not-without-effort.html
Deloitte - https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/deloitte-review/issue-22/diversity-and-inclusion-at-work-eight-powerful-truths.html
Havard Implicit Association Test - https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/iatdetails.html
HRB - https://hbr.org/2017/04/dont-give-up-on-unconscious-bias-training-make-it-better
Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America - https://www.ibramxkendi.com/stamped-from-the-beginning
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide - https://www.amazon.com/White-Rage-Unspoken-Racial-Divide/dp/1536667471
Bystander Interventions - http://wiki.preventconnect.org/bystander-intervention/
Dismantling Racism/Defining Racism - http://www.dismantlingracism.org/racism-defined.html
Google Diversity Commitments - https://diversity.google/commitments/
Facebook’s Diversity Initiatives - https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/08/facebook-diversity-update-building-a-more-diverse-inclusive-workforce/
Amazon D&I - https://www.aboutamazon.com/working-at-amazon/diversity-and-inclusion
Maternal Mortality Rates and Racism - https://www.ncrp.org/2019/04/u-s-maternal-mortality-points-to-institutional-racism-is-philanthropy-listening-to-black-women.html
Black Patients and Pain Treatment - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/04/04/do-blacks-feel-less-pain-than-whites-their-doctors-may-think-so/?utm_term=.afd9156b2ac3
Blacks in Labor Force - https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2018/article/blacks-in-the-labor-force.htm

Transcript

1. I’M STILL BLACK AND YOU’RE STILL RACIST AKA WHY YOUR PRO-DIVERSITY CULTURE IS HIDING RACIST PARASITES
2. PREREQUISITE: WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO ME SLIDE BRANDY FOSTER ▸ Black Woman ▸ Mother of Black Boys ▸ Progeny of Enslaved and Enslaver ▸ Employee of Detroit Labs ▸ Android App Developer ▸ Diversity and Inclusion Coach ▸ TEALS Volunteer
3. SHARED POOL OF KNOWLEDGE #ALLFACTS
4. WAIT! ENTERING POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING CONTENT ▸ Race ▸ Racism ▸ Racial Slurs
5. FACT 1: I’M STILL BLACK AND THE TECH INDUSTRY IS STILL RACIST. ▸ Racism is a system of oppression based on the fallacy of the existence of human races that creates a hierarchy where people socially identified as white are at the top of the food chain.
6. FACT 2: TECH IS OVERWHELMING WHITE ▸ The percentage of Black folks (with any degree) working in tech as of: ▸ 2002 was only 7%
 ▸ 2006 was only 5% ▸ The percentage of Black folks in the labor force in 2006 was 11.4%
7. FACT 3: IT’S NOT A PIPELINE PROBLEM ▸ The percentage of Black folks (with any degree) under and unemployed in tech as of: ▸ 2006 was 25.3% ▸ And for comparison sake, for white folks in that same time frame it was only 13.7%
8. FACT 4: TECH ORGANIZATIONS ARE TRYING… THE SAME THINGS ▸ Google, FB and Amazon all have D&I Initiatives to improve their organizational diversity ▸ Employee Resource Groups ▸ Unconscious Bias Training (Google and FB) ▸ Targeted Recruiting ▸ Engaging with youth from underrepresented communities
9. FACT 5: TIME AND INITIATIVES HAVEN’T RESULTED IN PROGRESS ▸ The percentage of Black folks (with any degree) working in tech as of: ▸ 2015 was 5% ▸ 2017 was 7% ▸ 1 in 4 PoC reported being stereotyped and 35% say that contributed to them leaving ▸ In 2017 Google admitted attrition was highest among their black employees

10. FEELING HOPELESS WHY HAVEN’T THINGS IMPROVED?
11. FACT 6 THE WAY FORWARD IS IN THE TWEETS OF BLACK FOLKS ▸ @KimCrayton1 ▸ @EricaJoy ▸ @BariAWilliams ▸ @MinaMarkham ▸ @bcwf
12. Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral Album Cover
13. TEXT THE PERMEANCE OF RACISM ▸ Proposes that racism is integral to the United States ▸ Uses fiction stories to demonstrate how racism influences decision making in the United States ▸ Encourages folks to commit to the work for the sake of the work
15. “IF YOU WANNA HIDE THE TRUTH, PUT IT IN THE MOUTH OF A BLACK PERSON.” Brandy Foster
16. YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG FAILING D&I
20. INCLUSION BEGETS DIVERSITY IT AIN’T CHICKENS OR EGGS
21. TEXT RE-ORDER THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS ▸ Inclusion must come first ▸ Diversity only works in inclusive cultures
22. NO INCLUSIVE ACCIDENTS TILLING THE SOIL
23. FACT 7 INCLUSION AND ANTI-RACISM DON’T JUST HAPPEN ▸ Inclusion is not a by-product of diversity ▸ It takes intentional work to create an inclusive culture ▸ Every person in an organization is responsible for contributing to - or negating from - the inclusiveness of the culture
25. THE WORK ALL PRAISE RI-RI
26. FACT 8: ANTI-BLACK RACISM HAS INFECTED YOU ▸ You hold anti-Black beliefs ▸ Most of those ideas are not conscious to you ▸ Possessing anti-Black ideas is not an indictment on your morality ▸ What you do with them - ARE
30. THERE’S LEVELS
32. HARVARD IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST ▸ Measures strength of associations between concepts and evaluations ▸ Available for the FREE online ▸ Takes minutes to complete ▸ Widely enough used and studied that it’s deemed pretty accurate
33. TAKE THE RACE IAT ▸ This will test how you subconsciously associate black and white folk (concepts) to good and bad (evaluations) ▸ Put it away overnight ▸ Review the results the following day ▸ Accept the results as current truth
35. KIRWAN INSTITUTE ▸ Learning modules on Unconscious Bias ▸ Module 4 is about Bias Mitigation
37. STEP 1 START AN UNDOING DIARY ▸ On the first page, record your Race IAT results and: ▸ The date you took it ▸ Your feelings about the results ▸ Are you shocked? Uncomfortable? Guilty? ▸ Why do you have these feelings?
38. STEP 2 COMMITMENT TO IMPROVE ▸ Decide if you want to improve ▸ If you do want to improve, investigate why you do ▸ Record a commitment to improve ▸ If you don’t want to improve, investigate why you do not ▸ Record your decision to not improve at this time
39. STEP 3 CREATE AN IMPROVEMENT PLAN ▸ Use some of the suggestions from Kirwan ▸ Self Interrogate ▸ Get out of your comfort zone ▸ Question everything ▸ Enrich your entertainment ▸ Research cultures ▸ Find your tribe ▸ Get good at apologies
40. STEP 4 WORK, RECORD, REVIEW, REPEAT ▸ Set a regular schedule for checking in with yourself ▸ Ask: ▸ What did/didn’t you do? ▸ What was really challenging? ▸ How do you feel now? ▸ Keep iterating
41. ZOOM IN ON IMPROVEMENT TELL ME MORE, TELL ME MORE
42. INTERROGATE THY SELF ▸ You need to ask and record your answer to the following: ▸ Do you have any Black people in your immediate family? ▸ If not, would the introduction of a Black person cause issues? ▸ Do you have any Black people in your close circle of friends? ▸ If yes, have you talked to them about race and racism? ▸ Do you have any Black people in your community? ▸ If not, would a Black family next door cause issues?
43. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE ▸ Seek out majority black spaces ▸ Take up only the space you physically need ▸ Listen intently and openly ▸ Backseat your ego ▸ Reflect on the experience in your Undoing Diary ▸ How was the experience? ▸ If it was hard, why do you think that is?
44. ENRICH YOUR ENTERTAINMENT ▸ Think about the kinds of entertainment you consume? ▸ How much of that entertainment is by and featuring Black folks? ▸ Consciously choose entertainment created by Black folks, featuring the lives of Black folks ▸ Do this for multiple genres - not just drama or comedy or rap music ▸ Ask yourself why these portrayals seem so unusual to you?
45. STEP UP YOUR CULTURAL HISTORICAL EDUCATION ▸ Read about Black culture ▸ Seek out materials written by Black folk ▸ Read about the history of African dynasties ▸ Read about race and racism ▸ White Rage by Carol Anderson, PhD ▸ Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi
46. FIND YOUR TRIBE ▸ Seek out and join a community of like-minded folks who share your identities ▸ Share your frustration in this space ▸ Seek and give support to others in this work ▸ Be open to learning
47. GET GOOD AT APOLOGIZING ▸ Be prepared to make mistakes ▸ Be humble when someone calls you out ▸ Remember your intentions < your impact ▸ Own your mistake ▸ Apologize for your IMPACT ▸ Express your gratitude ▸ Take it as a lesson - Do better next time
48. RIPPLE YOUR EFFECTS SPREAD THE LEARNING
49. BYSTANDER INTERVENTION ▸ Pay attention ▸ Be aware of the power dynamics in your office ▸ Play offense ▸ Strategize how to minimize the dynamics ▸ Leverage your privilege to advocate for others
50. BYSTANDER INTERVENTIONS (CONT) ▸ Play defense ▸ Call Foul ▸ When you hear someone using biases to support a decision, call it out ▸ Block ▸ When you witness someone being targeted, get in the way
51. DEMAND NEW PLAYS ▸ Use your privilege to address organizational inequalities and push for changes ▸ For Teams ▸ Suggest the use to inclusion building activities ▸ Suggest the creation of team agreements
52. DEMAND NEW PLAYS (CONT) ▸ For Organization ▸ Request an investigation into pay and promotion disparities ▸ Urge the formation of an ERG ▸ Request annual unconscious bias mitigation training ▸ Starting with the Senior Leadership ▸ Request an Inclusion and Diversity policy ▸ Ask that it has language of expected behaviors and consequences ▸ If there are any team members who are outwardly hostile to Black folks - Demand they be fired
54. FIN ▸ Join #still_back ▸ Follow folks on twitter ▸ I’m @bcwf ▸ GET THAT WORK!