LEADING THE CHARGE: WOMEN ADVANCING RACIAL EQUITY
RAARE Woman Collective Live: Championing Radical Change & Where to From Here
November 2-4, 2023
Louisville, KY
Event Recap and Article By
Erin Hunt Moore and Christine Hildebrand
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou
This past November 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky, the heart of racial equity work and healing in the US, a powerful and unprecedented movement for radical social change was launched: the RAARE Woman Collective - Radical Action Advancing Racial Equity. Designed and orchestrated by Dr. Nikki R. Lanier and her team at Harper Slade Racial Equity Advisors, RAARE is a racial equity suite curated, designed and presented by Black Women to inspire, educate, and activate inclined white women to collectively advance racial equity in America.
We were among the 130 women who convened in the ballroom of Louisville’s Brown Hotel, who over three intense days sat in community listening, learning, and visioning - individually and collectively creating a plan of action for positive change and progress, advancing a world in which we ALL want to live.
This body of work addresses key components and takeaways from RAARE. While we understand that racism has impacted other racial, gender, and identity groups, our recap focuses on how racism has affected black people and the relationship between white and black people, in particular.
We aim to convey insights gained from our participation in RAARE in November 2023, exploring how these lessons can serve as a catalyst for meaningful change: delving into topics such as inherent bias, perceptions, and generational prejudice that have persisted over time, with a particular focus on understanding the profound impact of racism and its relevance to our current circumstances.
This is just the beginning. We’re both honored to be ambassadors for this important work and forward momentum as a result of the RAARE Woman Live event and connection with Dr. Nikki Lanier and look forward to continuing to partner with our sisters - White, Black and Brown - to move us into a new and powerful era of equality and honor.
For Tickets to RAARE Women Collective LIVE in SF Bay Area
Monday, January 15th MLK Day 9am - 1pm
Ciel Creative Studios, Berkeley, CA
https://www.raarewomancollective.com/raare-on-the-road
THE JOURNEY
Location Matters - Louisville, Kentucky:
We arrived in Louisville late in the evening on November 1, 2023, and were graciously chauffeured to our downtown hotel by a former Louisville Police Officer. Adam, as we'll refer to him, provided us with a poignant historical account during our commute from the airport, shedding light on the stark racial divisions between the East and West Ends, where a significant portion of Louisville's Black population resides.
Louisville, sadly, has garnered attention for its visible instances of police brutality against Black individuals and people of color. Adam himself had been part of the Louisville Police Department during the tragic event of Breonna Taylor's fatal shooting, an incident that remains under scrutiny by the
Justice Department. Following Breonna's death, the city plunged into disarray, with protests, violence, and looting demanding accountability for the officers involved. Notably, amidst the chaos, a powerful image emerged of white women shielding black protestors from the riot police, symbolizing a collective push for justice and solidarity.
During our stay, we had the privilege of meeting influential figures such as the city's First Lady and Deputy Mayor, who are tirelessly advocating for social and racial justice within their community. These dedicated individuals are actively spearheading initiatives aimed at fostering greater equity and inclusivity.
In the wake of the George Floyd incident, the BLM movement brought the issue of racism to the forefront, presenting a critical opportunity for transformative change. As we reflect on this pivotal moment, we must renew our commitment to sustaining the momentum for meaningful progress and lasting social transformation.
What is The RAARE Women’s Collective?
The RAARE Women’s Collective was designed and created by Dr. Nikki Lanier of Harper Slade, Inc. The Collective is curated, designed and presented by Black Women to inspire, educate, and activate inclined white women to advance racial equity in America.
The RAARE Women Collective LIVE was the first Live 3-Day Conference held at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky on November 2-4, 2023.
RAARE stands for:
R Radical
A Action
A Advancing
R Racial
E Equity
What IS Racism?
Fundamental belief and propagation, implementation, and advancement of beliefs that white people are inherently better and are above black people and other people of color.
We have not followed or taken action toward this foundational truth in our Constitution.
Why are Black women calling on White women to join them in the movement to end racism?
Women are central to where values are created and are chiefly influential in how those values are expressed in our homes, communities and workplaces.
Women have voting power.
Black women can’t do it alone, neither can white women.
White women have influence. power, position, and proximity to white men to create change that can benefit us all.
Notable white women have historically been a part of the civil rights movement, and this time is no different.
We must do it together and this means healing white shame and black trauma so we can come together for mutually beneficial outcomes.
Why is Racism so important to look at now?
Ending Racism is an Economic Imperative: Racism is one of the most significant economic issues we face today and therefore must be addressed in every system, structure, family, community and organization where it thrives.
The U.S. has lost 16 trillion in GDP in the last 20 years because of policies, laws, and prejudice that keep people of color from advancing. Source: Federal Reserve Bank, San Francisco
Preservation and Empowerment of the Middle Class advances our economy
The majority typically make up the middle class.
The middle class is where the Federal Reserve originates monetary policy and where Congress originates fiscal policy.
Incentives toward homeownership have created the middle class, which black people and people of color have historically been kept from.
By 2045, There will be a Shift in U.S. Demography
By 2045, people of color will comprise the majority. If we don’t fix our current trend, the consequences are huge.
The Quality of ALL Lives is at Stake
Lack of resources and economic opportunity for black people and people of color cost ALL of us: increased crime, civil unrest, stressed healthcare system, social service system, justice system inequity, prison system overcrowding, education disparity, political unrest, and more.
Our Democracy is at Risk AND Our VOTES Matter
Laws + Policies created in the last century have created outcomes that are causing civil unrest at the local level are not able to be remedied locally but must be remedied federally.
Laws are made by people. We have a responsibility (red or blue) to look more deeply into the people we are putting into office. Are they continuing to advance suppression of black/brown people, and folks of different identities, or are they working to bring unity and abundance to all Americans?
As our national division widens and we continue the trend of separation vs unification, we risk not only our internal security and common welfare, but our fractionalization makes us more vulnerable internationally.
Our current culture is a product of our intentions, laws and policies.
Some of the things that contributed to how we got here:
To fully address and improve our current situation, we need to understand what happened historically that delivered us to our current state. If we don’t understand or if we are not aware, we can’t fully address change, and we are subject to repeating history and continuing behaviors that are not delivering the experiences we desire.
Carl Linneas - 1761, was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalized binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. One of the origins of scientific racism can be traced to Linnaeus’ work on the classification of man, which has had devastating and far-reaching consequences for humanity.
US Federal and State laws and policies blocking the advancement of black people. Here are just a few:
The Social Security Act (1935) - This act excluded farmworkers and domestic workers, who were predominantly Black, from receiving old age and unemployment insurance. Although Social Security was meant to help those affected by the Great Depression, and African Americans were twice as likely as the “average" American family to face hunger during this time, 65% of Black Americans were ineligible to receive Social Security.
The National Housing Act of 1934, Part 1 - Policies under this law guaranteed federally-backed loans to White people and legally refused loans to Black people and anyone else who wanted to live in or near Black neighborhoods. The practice, known as ‘redlining,’ targeted entire Black neighborhoods and identified them as ‘Grade D.” This made it nearly impossible for appraisers in the private sector to do business in Black neighborhoods because all the residents were considered bad credit risks.
The National Housing Act of 1934, Part 2 - Since this legislation prevented Black people from receiving federally-backed home mortgages, White people usually purchased homes in Black neighborhoods and then sold “housing contracts” to Black people who wanted to become homeowners, often for two to three times the amount of the mortgage. These contracts only guaranteed Black families the rights to the house AFTER all the payments were complete. Missing even one payment, or being late, would result in the Black family losing their house immediately.
The GI Bill (1944) - provided WWII veterans with funds for college, unemployment insurance, and housing. It put housing and higher education within reach for millions of veterans and their families. Over 16 million Americans served in WWII, of which 1.5 million were Black. Yet, black soldiers were denied benefits set aside for veterans and therefore didn’t not receive the economic advancement for themselves or their families and added to the economic gap between white and black people in the US.
This is history, and here are just a few places where racism is active now. Again, if we are aware, we can change.
Insurance Rates, Loans and other financial access discriminate by zip code
Gerrymandering - Red Lining
Vote Blocking - this is happening all over, limiting the voting rights of people of color
Limiting access to financial resources (mortgages, VC-backed funding, business loans, etc.) to Black people and people of color
Suppression of History: if there is suppression, there’s nothing to remediate
Banning of Books - school districts banning books from black authors or books featuring slavery or the history of African Americans.
How does Racism affect Black People?
They don’t feel safe. Period. Anywhere.
Their value as a human, just existing, is always at question.
Constant microaggressions are everywhere as they move through the world.
Discriminated against in our healthcare system, get subpar care, or refused care.
Access to education, financial opportunities, and other advancement is challenging
Access to financing, mortgages, investments, and capital is challenging
You don’t have to be a white supremacist to stand in the supremacy of being white.
What has RACISM stolen from you, as a White Person?
During the event, we each recorded what racism has taken from us personally as white women. Here are just a few of the comments from our conference:
Friendships, relationships, human connections
Opportunities for understanding, empathy
Exposure to different cultures, rituals, family traditions
Understanding of history and the impact of slavery, racism and how truly present racism is still to this day
My peace of mind, safety, feeling of hope and faith in humankind
It has been painful watching inequity, witnessing human brutality
TALKING about Racism is the 1st step toward Healing
Dialogue is an entry point to move us into a deeper understanding of one another and that can lead to deeper alignment. The goal of conversations is to move people into awareness and consciousness with hope that deeper understanding and empathy lead to a commitment to change thoughts and behaviors.
Awareness > Empathy >
Hearts and Minds change > Actions/Behavior change
Ground Rules for Conversations:
Be clear and open about the purpose of the conversation before inviting people and during the conversation.
Set ground rules for respectful conversation, Active listening is a must.
Remain open, with curiosity modeled by responding with questions before responding.
Recognize and acknowledge people’s experiences.
Conversation Starters:
How are you feeling about what’s happening in the world, in our country?
What is your racial identity? Do you feel you have privilege?
What are your thoughts on how you experience your life vs. how other people of different races experience theirs?
Do you think racism exists and where have you witnessed racism in our systems such as education, health care, financial systems, jobs, etc.?
Where do you think we are making progress toward reaching racial equity?
What do you think your role is?
Advancing Racial Equity IS OUR Work. Here’s how to start:
Educate yourself on what racism is and how it affects black people, what it has cost you personally, others, our communities, and our country.
Investigate your views on race.
How have you benefited by being white?
What have been your experiences with other cultures that have formed your beliefs and biases
Understand and be honest with yourself about your beliefs, biases, history, and experiences.
Watch, Listen, and immerse yourself in Black culture and People of Color culture, media, television, movies, books, where you can learn their stories and experiences. Feel/Learn/Understand what it’s like to live in America as a non-white human. Empathy grows from here.
Pay Attention to conversations, news, and messages that are racially motivated or exclusionary. Speak up when you notice someone or something racist. Silence is alignment with racism.
Be okay with not getting it right all the time, view feedback as a gift, and be okay with talking about how your thoughts, words, and behaviors can more align with elevating racial equity.
What prevents us
from doing the work?
Learning about what blocks us is just as important as learning what will advance us.
Human Inertia - our shadow side of judgment, competition, violence, and scarcity
“Me vs. We” Mentality
Our scarcity mindset, is the untrue belief that if we advocate for others, it takes something from us.
Some like our Bubble, are not willing to upset our own apple cart to do the important change work
Easier to ignore yet, hard to witness the suffering/ hardships of others
We simply follow and repeat our family systems and legacy of beliefs
Fear of making a mistake
Remedy: Own it, Apologize for it, Say you’ll do better, and Do better.
What can white and black women do together to join forces
to create change?
All women, Black, white, and women of color have scar tissue to work through. We are all products of a reality we didn’t create, yet we have the responsibility to course correct and change it.
The start is sitting around the table and having the dialogue about what we both can get behind as a philosophy, cultural reality, and racial equity manifesto. The work of RAARE is bringing women together with the hope of having these critical dialogues and creating a single manifesto we both feel we can get behind.
What RAARE is advocating as racial equity work outcomes?
Incentives/Retributions - getting black and brown folks into the middle class - what has done this in the past
Owning a home, how can Fed-backed, low-cost loans be available to black people?
CRT - stop banning books, teach what happened.
If you don’t know, there’s not to remediate
Affirmative Action - access to economic opportunities, healthcare, and education
How are Human Evolution and Eradicating Racism Connected?
When we can see beyond the ME to the collective WE, we have a view into how the macro world exists around us. Our entire social structure: our communities, retail stores, schools, healthcare systems, and entertainment destinations are influenced by our ability to co-exist.
The survival of our species is dependent on our ability to shift what we value. The importance of shifting our focus on what we value to our internal development and growth, our innate qualities, and what we stand for as human beings and away from valuing the external and the acquisition of material over valuing human life.
Let’s level set our definitions...
Diversity: The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. Diversity is intentionally seeking and placing what/who is not in the room, to ensure that “difference” is represented.
Racial Equity: Racial Equity is defined by proportional fairness that takes into consideration the cultural and historical realities that have beset people of color, as distinct from all other people, and works to remedy the same
Equity vs. Equality: The term “equity” refers to fairness and justice and is distinguished from equality: Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity means recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances.
Inclusion: Inclusion is the support, activation and encouragement FELT by an employee so that they may deposit into work without regularly compromising the cultural and individual nuances of WHO THEY ARE. The feeling is derived both from the work environment and from leadership. Basically, how do I feel about work and how does work feel about me?
Affirmative Action: Compulsory Remediation of the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future.
Reparations: the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. National, state and local policy that remediates the exact policies that existed that caused the economic and social harm to begin with. It’s bigger than simply cutting checks.
The RAARE Live Takeaway:
A Racial Equity Legacy Plan
At RAARE Live, we were led through an exercise to create and commit to our own personal Racial Equity Legacy Plan. The racial equity plan frames the personal actions we will take into our homes, work, communities and networks. Examples would include taking action on the attacks that we see on DEI in higher ed, teaching black history, accurately, assuring that black and brown leaders in organizations are well supported, and more. Other grass-roots examples could include community dinners and luncheon learns where white women meet with other white women to talk through solutions and strategies on advancing racial equity given the tools provided by RAARE Women Collective.
Final Thoughts from Erin:
Racial equity is not a “they” consideration, because racism is a WE reality: a collective issue that began with white supremacy and colonialism.
White people must take the lead on the deep shifts, the healing, and the solutions that need to be advanced to move into a new paradigm. And IN partnership with black people. Racism is not a black issue to solve.
This work is not about “white saviorism”. Real change will not happen through charity, through limited or detached support from a comfortable distance. We need to be the solution and at the heart of hard conversations and in the middle of collaborative solutions. We need to be more than an advocate, but a PARTNER in change - not only an advocate. We must be part of the solution.
What is unique and important about RAARE? We - as white women - are learning about the black experience through black women sharing their authentically lived experiences with us, accompanied by the data and facts that are part of our collective history. Who better to teach and guide than those who have lived the experience, rather than from the lens of the white academic or philanthropist who have written the books and taught history?
Change requires stepping out, being vulnerable, moving in unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable places. It involves accepting one’s culpability in a situation; in history. I am proud to be moving forward with women around me as a champion and partner in racial equity; to be leveraging my privilege and commitment to impact to facilitate deep change in the community with powerful women.
Final Thoughts from Christine:
Racism is a heavy topic to ponder that requires courage, yet we are up for the challenge and the time is right. I am committed to this work and sharing it with others.
Racial equity work is about eliminating the inhumane treatment our black/brown citizens face daily and begin healing so we can come together as one human race.
As the Dali Lama said at the 2009 Vancouver Peace Conference, “The world will be saved by The Western Woman.” I believe he didn’t mean white women, but ALL women. The power of women coming together to envision and mobilize change is the most powerful force on the planet.
We CAN heal our shame (white women) and trauma (black women) so that we may unify and co-create and model how we ALL can co-exist and thrive. Women coming together toward this effort can be a catalyst for this and so many other positive changes.
Spending time with other white women from the Midwest, South, and Southeast whom I never had had an opportunity to get to know was such a gift. I quickly learned that my SF Bay Area, California upbringing provided not only racial privilege but a host of other privileges. (Access to education, personal development, empowerment and mindfulness resources). This privilege has supported the development of my voice and expression as a woman and human and allows me financial and other means of personal freedoms. Many other white women in the US, let alone the world, have not had this support. I developed new gratitude for my privilege and vowed to create opportunities for other women to have what I’ve been blessed with.
It’s important we all fund/support access to education, arts, music, and empowerment programs for our children to develop empowered humans, no matter our race.
For Tickets to RAARE Women Collective LIVE in SF Bay Area
Monday, January 15th MLK Day 9am - 1pm
Ciel Creative Studios, Berkeley, CA
https://www.raarewomancollective.com/raare-on-the-road
About the Authors
Christine Hildebrand is Founder/CEO of Cofinity Consulting, a management consulting, executive leadership coach, intuitive, and ambassador/advisor to the RAARE Women Collective. Christine and her team at Cofinity work in the intersection of Strategy and Consciousness bringing new business models, leadership skills, and team experiences to generate both human and commercial thriving and flourishing.
Erin Hunt Moore is Founder of Verdant PR, a strategic communications consulting company supporting mission-driven founders and companies develop brand identity, compelling messaging, and change initiatives that garner media attention, consumer awareness, and resulting growth and commercial success.