To our Black teammates, partners, clients, and the wider Black community, we stand by you.
Now's the time for us to listen and educate ourselves on systemic and everyday racism, white privilege, and their consequences. We need to learn how to create a more equal and tolerable world for everyone.
Self-educate: learn, unlearn, relearn
At first, I was waiting for directions from the company; resources, or materials to guide us through this.
But then I realized, why do I expect it to come from someone else? It’s up to me to self-educate. And I can share what I’ve learned to inspire my peers to learn together.
I spent some time reflecting and reading up news, books, and watching documentaries and put together a course on understanding #BlackLivesMatter to share with the whole company.
A couple of 360Learners quickly jumped in and helped improve the course. Now, we’re sharing it with all our users, who can use it to educate themselves or their teams.
The course provides an introduction to basic concepts like:
- Why silence is compliance
- Why it’s not enough to be “non-racist”
- What is White Privilege
- How to be more than an “optical” ally
Here’s a public preview version if you’re interested.
This course is, of course, only the beginning of what we can do. We have a lot to learn and improve on as a company and individuals. Our mission as a company is to drive impactful learning for change. And that starts with us.
I'm personally committed to using our platform (both our tool, our blog, and communication channels) to amplify voices in the Black community.
If you'd like to share your stories with us, you can email me directly at joei.chan@360learning.com
"Being a Black Employee in the Midst of a Revolution"
To better understand how your black employees might be feeling right now, here's an excerpt from an article written by Marquis White, Learning and Development Specialist at Zapier.
Being a Black employee during this time is exhausting. You truly don’t know if your non-Black coworkers are folks who are standing with you or against you. You have to show up to work haunted by the images of Black bodies that, quite frankly, look just like you or someone you’re related to, slain in the streets. You have to navigate trying to find hope in the midst of despair and peace when there has never been a solution. You have to show up carrying the weight of pain, grief, sorrow, and hopelessness — a heaviness with no place to lay it down. You have to show up doing just as much work, if not more, than your counterparts, knowing that your efforts will never amount to the same success they will achieve in their lives, in terms of titles and compensation.
I’ve been the only Black employee on my team. I’ve been the only Black employee on my team and the only one laid off during a reorganization. I’ve been the only Black Employee on my team and paid significantly less than others for doing the same role.
Imagine carrying that, every single day you show up to work, as your nation is in unrest by a genocide recently provoked by occupants in the White House.
Here's another powerful article on how Black people are expected to maintain professionalism and productivity "in the age of Black death" by Shenequa Golding:
"I don’t know who decided that being professional was loosely defined as being divorced of total humanity, but whoever did they’ve aided, unintentionally maybe, in a unique form of suffocation."
Learning to drive organizational change
Silence is a harmful privilege enjoyed by those insulated in the comfortable shield of white privilege. In a racist system, silence is compliance. We regret coming late to the movement, and we're conscious of all the work we need to do internally at 360Learning. The best time to speak up was years ago, the next best time is now.
Most of you reading this are L&D leaders in your organizations. We're in a position to speak up and encourage others to learn together.
We can drive organizational change through understanding, showing empathy, and knowledge sharing within our organizations.
A lot of people are nervous to say anything because the internet - or society in general - is quick to jump in and criticize. One misstep and you can be condemned and “canceled.”
But being wrong is an inevitable part of learning. And we have to accept that as part of our journey towards true allyship.
Quoting the words of Munroe Bergdorf, “Allyship is in our actions, none of us are done learning and it’s ok to have made mistakes... What matters is that you’re doing the work to become anti-racist and holding yourselves and each other accountable.”
Let's start holding ourselves and each other accountable.
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