Steps INELDA Will Take to Deal with Racism and White Privilege
Steps INELDA Will Take to Deal with Racism and White Privilege
This is a time of deep sorrow, difficult inner reflection, and change. We are an organization that is entirely white. And we have our work to do. While we have been conscious of the need to bring the experience and voices of people of color into our work—partly because some of you have been telling us that—we have been too slow to make the changes we should have. We are sorry that it took the death of George Floyd and the mass protests in the streets of our cities to finally make this a top priority for us. But we are here now and committed to doing the work of facing our white privilege and working to become an anti-racist organization.
In the middle of a pandemic, people of all races and ethnic backgrounds have braved the possibility of contracting coronavirus, as well as assault and arrest by police and military, to make everyone listen to the despair, anger, frustration, and centuries of agonizing pain carried by Black and Brown people in America. It is clear to us at INELDA that the profound work of dismantling these societal systems of oppression is in fact NOT the work of people of color, but rather the work of the white people who created it and have benefited from it for generations upon generations.
Now, we as an organization and as white individuals have to step up. And we will. Not for just these fragile moments of change, but in the months and years ahead. That is our promise to the doula community that has chosen INELDA as their partner in learning the doula role and in serving the dying. We also recognize and accept our responsibility to be a voice on these issues in the larger community of doulas.
Our concern for how we train doulas is just the beginning. We have to care about this in our everyday lives outside of work as trainers and doulas. The goal is to take effective and accountable action in all spheres of our lives to support anti-racism in all its forms. We know we won’t get it right at times, but we are willing to listen and learn.
Below you will see the steps we plan to take and have in fact already begun to take. We know words are not enough, it is the actions we take that will demonstrate our true commitment to this challenging but necessary work. This is the beginning. It will take time for our efforts to bear fruit. Please be patient with us and help us to stay on track with your feedback. We hope that all of our INELDA doulas will walk alongside us on this journey.
Concrete steps we are taking:
1. All INELDA employees will take part in a two-month workshop entitled: “Deconstructing Allyship: White Privilege and Accountability.” This workshop will be taught by Aimee Brill, who consults with predominantly white organizations committed to doing the deeper work of examining constructs, patterns, and behaviors of whiteness. We will “turn the mirror back on ourselves” to have vulnerable and honest reflections and discussion on how our own whiteness perpetuates and is complicit in maintaining racial disparities. To move beyond intention toward implementation we will begin to build in a process of accountability and cultural humility in the INELDA organization and its employees. This is one component of our commitment to anti-racist education.
2. On July 29 INELDA will host a webinar with Corey Kennard, Pastor of Amplify Christian Church in Detroit, MI. He has spent the past 20 years as an activist in the field of healthcare. He is a hospital administrator and has been deeply involved with Palliative Care in the African American community. As detailed further down in the newsletter, we will talk with Pastor Kennard about the issues of disparity in healthcare, the role of doulas in working with people of color, and the need for us to step up and take action against the unconscious racism that is present in end of life care. This will be the first of a number of webinars focused on these issues and more broadly on anti-racism in the doula field. Because of the importance of these subjects, this webinar and others on related topics will be open to anyone for free, whether or not they are a member of INELDA.
3. INELDA is committed to creating an accountable culture of inclusion that extends to BIPOC and LGBTQ communities as we restructure our Board of Trustees. This change will require trust and consent by all members of the Board, present, and future, as we shift toward creating more equitable frameworks within our organization. We commit to moving at the “speed of trust” and taking the time it requires.
4. INELDA will undertake a thorough and comprehensive review of its class material and its website so we can make the changes that will promote anti-racism and a more inclusive learning experience in present and future offerings. We pledge to make some of these changes as early as our first training in August. Due to the scale of this effort, it will take us the next six months to make changes to our existing offerings. After that, we are committed to making it part of our development process for all future classes and offerings.
5. We have already begun the process of empaneling an advisory council to continue the work we have been doing to promote the end of life doula work in communities of color, thus doing our part to work against the disparities, lack of access, and outright discrimination that exists in our system of healthcare. The council will also be charged with assisting our effort to speak to diversity and cultural awareness in our class materials and other offerings. The council will make other recommendations to the INELDA leadership about further steps we can take beyond those listed here. That council will be composed of INELDA BIPOC doulas as well as people of color from outside the doula world who have a voice on these issues and some role in end of life care. Already quite a few of our BIPOC doulas have offered to be part of the council. We will soon make an announcement about the council and continue to keep you informed as it comes together. The co-chairs of that council will be paid and we will find ways to compensate other members of the council. In the future, the mission and composition of the advisory council will be expanded to include LGBTQ members.
6. INELDA will reinstitute its scholarship program to award scholarships to BIPOC and LGBTQ people who do not have the means to take our training and who are committed to serving within their communities. This scholarship program will be announced in July and we will offer the first scholarships starting in August.
7. We pledge that the next trainer we bring on board will be a person of color. We also recognize that diversity would be just about a number unless we commit to the work of culture change, which goes beyond representation towards inclusion and dismantling white supremacy. We will keep our community updated on our progress.
8. INELDA will monitor its Facebook pages and any future online groups to eliminate any racist or biased comments or posts. But, at the same time, we will encourage constructive conversations about issues of bias and equity in the end of life field and post appropriately along these lines.
9. INELDA will keep the public, its doulas, and its members informed about all of these efforts through our monthly newsletters and special announcements.
10. We will not forget all of our commitments over time, but embed them in the fabric of the organization as part of our values, mission, and vision for the life of the organization. As part of that effort, we will also find ways to encourage our white doulas to do their own work on becoming anti-racist and post on our Resources page workshops, classes, books, podcasts, and websites that provide the information and tools to help them accomplish this.