What have you done since June?
I have lost count of the number of press releases I’ve seen since June that start with “The Black Lives Matter movement made us realise” or “In the year of Black Lives Matter”. They then proceed to fill two pages with loose commitments that are not measurable or concrete.
(It isn’t the year of Black Lives Matter by the way, Black lives have always mattered - it’s the year you realised Black lives mattered).
I feel nervous about how communications teams will be engaging with Black History Month. Will our lives be used as another timely hook to re-assert empty commitment to ‘Diversity & Inclusion’? Or as an opportunity to raise the profile of a CEO who has realised that they are in fact racist and looking for an outlet to tell us what we already knew.
Charity comms teams, this month when your managers give you a call to ask “what can we do to amplify our work for Black History Month?” - I challenge you to consider this. What have your organisations, boards and senior leadership done since June? (..or since forever.)
Have they actioned any of the commitments they made?
Have they published any progress or been transparent about their failings?
Have they increased the diversity of the senior teams and boards?
Has there been anything more than a POC-led company meeting?
Have they retained their Black staff and are they supporting their mental health?
Have they changed how they approach your work with communities?
Have they updated the language used to talk about POC and the groups that you work with?
June was four months ago. If nothing has been achieved since the black squares, since they were ‘dismayed’ or ‘shocked and saddened to see’, then they aren’t committed to rooting out racism. We therefore, do not want their solidarity for Black History Month.
Please let October be the month we want to make of it, not your PR and social media moment. Black History Month is a time for us, a month where we can truly and unapologetically celebrate our blackness, our history, our lives and our achievements. Consider using this month to do some work offline. Get the work done, become an anti-racist organisation and then you can join the party.
