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As a social equity researcher and in the area of anti-racism initiatives, Christiana ObeySumner, the owner of Epiphanies of Equity, LLC, has seen a significant shift in the way organizations approach this work in the wake of 2020’s tumultuous year.
Before 2020, many organizations were beginning to recognize the importance of anti-racism initiatives and were taking steps to make changes within their own structures. However, 2020 brought a new level of urgency to this work. Many companies dove headfirst into committing to the anti-racism cause before understanding the full extent of what it means to be authentically anti-racist.
According to ChrisTiana, organizations have faced a number of challenges as they’ve taken on anti-racism initiatives post-2020. A lot of organizations have struggled to achieve their goals, and there have been instances where people have lost steam when the journey didn’t unfold as expected. ChrisTiana has also noticed that the resources being invested in anti-racism initiatives have shifted dramatically over the past 18 months.
Before 2020, organizations that wanted to take on anti-racism initiatives would invest anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 for consultants or roles. However, since 2020, Christiana says that those budgets have dropped to $20,000, $15,000, and even $10,000.
ChrisTiana points out that if we want to continue making progress towards achieving the goals of anti-racism, it’s essential that organizations are willing to invest the resources and effort necessary to make real change happen. This means not just putting money towards anti-racism initiatives but also making sure that people have the support they need to make those changes happen.
“Overall, there’s a general feeling of change exhaustion or fatigue among people. This is not only due to internal changes within organizations but also to the societal changes that have been taking place. The way we talk about these issues has changed so quickly and can be very upsetting, especially for those who have experienced them firsthand.” – ChrisTiana ObeySumner Epiphanies of Equity, LLC.
As the owner of a social equity consulting and advocacy firm, ChrisTiana says that they’ve seen a significant shift in the last two years in how businesses are showing up to the social equity support and training conversation:
When people initially came to do DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] work with my company, whether it was anti-racism, disability justice or gender equity, it was evident that there had already been some conversation and some grappling around the subject. They’d accepted that it was going to be hard work and that they would have to invest themselves. After 2020, specifically after George Floyd, the tone of those interested in DEI changed. My hunch from working with others and talking with colleagues is that companies were moving into the DEI space because they felt socially obligated, as if they were afraid of what it would mean to not do this, especially at the height of everything at the end of 2020.
ChrisTiana also noted that there is a low-risk tolerance for the extent to which people are willing to make the necessary shifts and changes in all spaces—individually, culturally, institutionally, and socially—to achieve the goals of anti-racism.
“It’s important to recognize that a lot of organizations that reached out for anti-racism work before 2020 did so out of an authentic desire to make changes. However, in 2020, anti-racism became more of a ‘have to’ than a ‘want to’, as organizations felt that they had to have some sort of plan in place or risk being seen as an organization that wasn’t equitable.”- ChrisTiana ObeySumner
As a result, the changes that many organizations made after the events of 2020 were more superficial and less impactful. ChrisTiana emphasizes that real change requires more than just a plan or commitment—it requires resources, effort, and most importantly, a genuine willingness to make changes.
Changing the Conversation
How do you join the equity conversation with authenticity and transparency? It begins with social and emotional awareness. If your strategy doesn’t consider the social, cultural, and psychological realities of the people who will be designing and implementing the equity initiative, it’s nearly impossible to be successful.
“When we talk about any strategy, bottleneck, or problem regarding inequity (including justice, accessibility, diversity, governance, inclusion, etc.), we are inherently talking about a sociological
problem. If we want to be specific, a foundational, psychosocial situation—humans are the most volatile variable in the equity equation.” -ChrisTiana ObeySumner
ChrisTiana stresses that inequity is a process and outcome of our social structures and culture, so fixing it is more than just creating a 10-point plan and quantitative benchmarks.
The framework for social equity begins by asking the tough questions:
- How do you get and sustain buy-in for social equity on all levels?
- How do you address resistance to change?
- How do you address fatigue and intersectionality?
- How do you help others have a shared sense of ownership?
- How do you communicate your vision in multiple ways so as many people as possible feel a sense of a shared goal?
As ChrisTiana and the team at Epiphanies of Equity, LLC continue to strive for transformative change and true social equity, their hope is that companies will open their minds to the possibilities that change management and sociological awareness can bring. It’s only when people are willing to infuse risk, change and growing pains into their social equity strategies that real solutions begin to emerge.
ChrisTiana ObeySumner advocates for undervalued and underestimated communities and amplifies the voices and leadership of those most intersectionally impacted through research, strategy, and storytelling. Learn more about ChrisTiana ObeySumner and Epiphany of Equity on their website.
