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Achieving racial equity and sustaining a viable democracy go hand in hand. NCG defines democracy as the processes, systems, and structures for historically marginalized and underrepresented community members to participate in a political system that fulfills the promise of an equitable multi-racial society. Northern California is a region that can model this approach, ensuring that people of color and other communities historically underrepresented and marginalized in our political process fully engage in the democratic process.
Recently, Dwayne Marsh, CEO of Northern California Grantmakers, and I were reflecting on how many foundations in our memberships are looking to change direction and move toward racial equity. In an ice-bucket-style challenge, Dwayne posted his thoughts and then tagged me with the question, “How best does philanthropy choose courage in the face of the unprecedented complexity the moment offers?"
A radically conservative Supreme Court has shaken the country by stripping away long-settled rights and overturning legal precedent. This didn’t happen overnight. What is happening is the result of a decades-long campaign by the conservative legal movement to build a well-resourced network of lawyers, law professors, and judges. And now they are reaping the fruits of their labor. Can the conservative legal movement be stopped?
The lunar new year of the tiger began on February 1, so it's still a new year which means we have an opportunity for a fresh start. Leaders and staff in organizations from different sectors use the phrase “racial equity” or “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and talk about it but sometimes there is a disconnect between talking and acting on what it means to operationalize racial equity.
Over the next 20 years in the U.S., $35–70 trillion in wealth will transfer from one generation to another in the largest generational wealth transfer in history, mostly moving within wealthy white families. The policies that make possible this protection and accumulation of wealth are situated within the legacy of land theft, genocide of Native people, enslavement of Black people, and exploitation of natural resources. This context of racial capitalism has also given rise to wealth accumulation that, in part, birthed the philanthropic sector. Paradoxically, many of us working within philanthropy aim to contribute to changes in systems, structures, and outcomes that address the harms of interconnected systems like racial capitalism that favor some at the expense of others and the planet.
As we face the stinging backlash to progress and concerted efforts to challenge the movement for greater equity and inclusion, a new generation of organizers and leaders are defending these wins and building the power of communities to dismantle systems of oppression.
August 5th marks ten years since a man with ties to white supremacist organizations killed six people in an Oak Creek Sikh temple, and August 3rd marks three years since 23 people were killed in an El Paso Walmart. The El Paso gunman claimed the mass murder was a "response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas." Many other instances of mass violence in recent years have been driven by racial or ethnic hatred and intolerance, including deadly attacks in Charleston in 2015, Pittsburgh in 2018, Atlanta in 2021, and Buffalo in 2022.