Doing Anti-Racist Business is not a book or a practice for everyone. Anyone and any business can do anti-racism work right now— only if they choose to do so. The decision is up to the individuals, organizational decision-makers, and those with enough institutional power to make them stick when the going gets tough. If you want to make it REAL, this is definitely the book for you.Answer True/False to these five questions.
1. Interviewers can’t/shouldn’t ask job candidates questions about anti-racism because questions about race are prohibited by law.
2. Corporate grooming policies that create the same rules for everyone avoid discrimination.
3. When a white person says, “To create a more racially equitable Board, I’m stepping down from my position so that a BIPAL person can have it,” they perpetrate racism.
4. Replace “Bad Apples” or “one-off” excuses for racism with addressing how experiences of racism reflect the larger organizational culture.
5. Replace the term and practices of “diversity hires” with the term and practices of “racially equitable hiring.”
Now, score your answers.
Your final score will range anywhere from +50 to -100 points. For each correct answer, you'll receive 10 points. For each incorrect answer, your score will be adjusted negatively by 20 points.
Wait a minute — that doesn't seem fair, does it? Here’s why the scoring works this way:
- It reflects the damage that racism does beyond a simple one-action cause producing a one-time effect.
- It portrays the stubbornness of how the status quo protects racism and racist practices.
- It’s honest about the reality that doing anti-racist business can feel like it’s an uphill battle, even though it’s an absolutely necessary one!
- FALSE - Organizations capable of doing anti-racist business must have employees capable of doing anti-racist business. Anti-racism questions during the interview process, help to ensure candidates with sharply honed anti-racist skills, value sets, and agility, are hired to work with your organization to create, grow, and sustain an anti-racist culture. Anti-racist questions differ from questions about race. For a full list of anti-racism job interview questions, see page 99, in Doing Anti-Racist Business.
- FALSE - Grooming policies including words such as neat, trimmed, clean-shaven, and natural styles are often code for white beauty standards. Challenge all policies that pressure BIPAL (Black, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Asian, Latino/x) people to conform to and to internalize beauty standards of whiteness because they uphold racism. Also see, the CROWN Act. For further discussion and guidance regarding anti-racist grooming policies, see page 38, in Doing Anti-Racist Business.
- TRUE - The language of “stepping down from MY position” not only centers whiteness but also indicates the position belonged to the white person. Notions of “charity” and “white saviorism” are also reinforced. To reflect the nature of white supremacy and how it functions to retain white dominant Boards and other leadership groups, a white person could say, “I am resigning from the Board because by staying I am reinforcing racial inequity.” For an ACTION-NOW Learning Engagement with guidance as to how to create a more racially equitable Board or Leadership group, see pages 100-104 in Doing Anti-Racist Business.
- TRUE - Anti-Racist Business culture requires accountability measures versus excuses for anomalies. Create and enforce policies and practices that focus on accountability and consequences for doing or not doing business aligned with anti-racist outcomes. For Quick Replacement List, see page 94, in Doing Anti-Racist Business.
- TRUE - The term “diversity hire” limits hiring practices to representational models and protects tokenism as well as negative racialized biases regarding merit and skill. For Quick Replacement List, see page 94, in Doing Anti-Racist Business.
Do you want to learn more about doing the work of anti-racism in the corporate sector? Check out Doing Anti-Racist Business by Sheila M. Beckford and E. Michelle Ledder.