7 Ways to Join the Fight for Racial Equality

Helplessness. It’s a feeling many of us can relate to right now, as protests and riots over racial injustice and police brutality continue to spread across the country, despite the existence of a surging deadly pandemic that is showing no signs of slowing down.

The killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis ignited the explosion of riots and protests, and a few weeks later, it happened again. At the time of this writing, we had just learned that police in Atlanta shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who failed a sobriety test and appeared to wrestle a Taser from an officer, in a Wendy’s parking lot on June 13. Like Floyd’s death, the incident was caught on video.

Despite the massive outcry to put an end to these instances of deadly force that disproportionately impact Blacks, like the coronavirus, they aren’t showing too many signs of slowing down either.

If you’re watching this unrest unfold on screens in your home or office as you try to focus on performing your job – or searching for a new one – but are becoming distracted by feelings of stress or anxiety, you’re not alone. According to data released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau, rates of anxiety and depression have more than tripled since the onset of the pandemic and current political unrest, and it’s been especially difficult for Black Americans.

Comparing data from January to June 2019 to data from May 28 to June 2, 2020, anxiety among all Americans jumped 8% to 31%; for Black Americans, it jumped 8% to 34%. Rates of depression rose from 7% to 25% for all Americans during the same time period; for Black Americans, it leaped from 8% to 30%.

Discrimination and racism in America is a large, complicated and deep-rooted problem that won’t be fixed easily, but the collective actions of many individuals can keep the momentum going. And even doing one small thing to support the Black community during this painful time can help allies feel a little less helpless. Here are some suggestions of ways credit union industry leaders and employees can help back the fight for racial inequality without putting their health at risk by joining a large crowd of protesters.

1. Challenge your credit union’s board to officially declare a commitment to supporting diversity, equity and inclusion. CUNA’s board of directors made a bold move this month by passing a resolution proclaiming the trade association’s stance against racism. Other industry organizations have made similar announcements, including WOCCU and CUES. Echoing these trade groups’ actions at the credit union level will help display a sense of solidarity across the whole movement. Develop a written resolution with your board, display it proudly on your website and share it with your employees and members.

2. Check in with your Black colleagues. The above numbers from the Census should say it all – many of them are not feeling OK right now. While it may feel less awkward to simply stay quiet on the issue, therapists are recommending that non-Blacks speak up to show their support. In reading a number of articles offering advice on how to check in with Black colleagues and friends in light of the unrest, therapists seem to agree that acknowledging, listening and providing space is a good approach to take. Say something simple that acknowledges the severity of what’s happening right now and conveys that you’d like to help, listen to what they want to express, and back off if they don’t want to talk about it.

3. Create a culture where employees won’t hesitate to call out racist remarks. Racist statements can range from the blatant, like Sen. Steve Huffman’s (R-Ohio) June 11 suggestion that the “colored population” may be more susceptible to COVID-19 because they don’t wash their hands as well as other groups, to micro aggressions like telling a Black acquaintance they remind you of such-and-such Black celebrity, which can imply that you believe all Blacks look and act the same.

Overhearing a colleague make a racist comment about or directly to another colleague can be uncomfortable, and it’s easy to understand the hesitancy to say something out of fear of retaliation. But if a workplace has an established no-tolerance policy for racism, employees will know that calling out this type of behavior is necessary to protect a set of values that their leaders and teammates have all bought into. Still, HR might consider developing something similar to a Whistleblower policy that allows employees to report incidents of racism anonymously.

4. Challenge members to join in the fight. Don’t stop at your employees when encouraging others to take a stand against racism. Communicate your organization’s position to members and ask them to participate by speaking out on social media, educating themselves about systemic racism, supporting Black-owned businesses or donating to organizations that support Black communities.

5. Speaking of donating, reconsider the targets of your charitable giving efforts. Over the past couple of months, credit union community giving activities have centered around delivering protective face masks to health care workers and supporting local businesses that had to close their doors due to state lockdowns. While this work is important amid the COVID-19 pandemic, consider taking a pause from it to funnel resources to nonprofits that support Blacks and other marginalized groups.

6. Hire a diverse team and show them off. HR leaders and other executives should commit to hiring a diverse set of team members not only across the organization, but across the executive team. And they should show the public that they believe it’s important to have people with a range of ideas and viewpoints making high-level decisions at the organization by putting their faces front and center. For example, display professional photos of your diverse executive team members on your website, and send out team members from different backgrounds to represent your organization at speaking engagements and professional networking events.

7. Consider how you might be contributing to racial bias. In a viral TikTok video posted this month, a white female doctor discussed the prevalence of discrimination against Blacks in the health care world, and explained a straightforward method she uses to keep herself from displaying bias in a BuzzFeed News article. “I’m thinking, ‘Would I be doing this if [a nonwhite patient] were the wife of the CEO of the hospital?’That’s just part of my internal check. It’s constantly on us to do that introspection,” the doctor said.

Examine your past and current interactions with people of various backgrounds, and honestly ask yourself if you’ve treated anyone differently than you would someone you have great respect for because of the person’s background. It’s never too late to recognize your own unconscious bias and work on making a change.

At CU Times, we certainly don’t claim to have the answers when it comes to taking on racism, but as journalists, we do know that asking questions and having conversations are good steps toward challenging longstanding belief systems that are not working for all the groups in our communities. This list is likely only the tip of the iceberg of what credit unions can do, and we’re interested in expanding our knowledge beyond it – if your organization is working on a unique anti-racism strategy you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you.

Natasha Chilingerian is executive editor for CU Times. She can be reached at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.