DAY 8: Racial Diversity in the Workplace

In her book Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change, Penobscot lawyer, activist, and teacher Sherri Mitchell (Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset) writes,  “One of the most important things we can do for ourselves, our children, and the future of the planet is to decolonize our minds and ways of life.” Mitchell defines colonization as “the act of appropriating or forcibly overtaking a place and exerting control over it” and that addressing colonization in the modern day means confronting “the lingering systems of control and the insidious patterns of thinking that colonization brings.”  Listen to her discussion with Tyson Yunkaporta, “What if Indigenous Wisdom Could Save the World?”

• What is the racial makeup of your workplace? Does it reflect your community's racial makeup? 

• Reflect on the Characteristics of White Supremacy individually and with colleagues to address any issues that might exist in your workplace and beyond.

• If you want more people of color at your events and in your workplace, first think about what kind of culture you are creating to welcome them. Evaluate where and how you are promoting events and hiring opportunities.

• Consider consulting a DEI-trained professional to review your hiring messaging to reflect racial equity, that hiring requirements (education, background checks) do not exclude marginalized workers disproportionately, and your policies prioritize increasing diversity.

• Examine your store's staff messaging and policies: employee handbooks or manuals, dress codes, scheduling, staff transportation (cars vs. public transit), etc. Are they inclusive? Do they reflect anti-racism?

More Resources

• Anti-Racism Resource Collection of Dr. Nicole A. Cooke
• 2018 report on racism in the publishing workplace
• Lee and Low 2023 Report of Diversity in Publishing

Last Week: Anti-Racism and You: Dismantling Bias
Tomorrow: Expression of Racial Diversity

Author Photo Credit: Reproduced by permission of Equal Justice Initiative| Quote from Words of Change: Anti-Racism by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2020 By Kenyra Rankin. All rights reserved.

SIBA thanks its generous sponsors, who have made the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge possible:

Many of the quotes used in the Challenge are excerpted from Words of Change: Anti-Racism by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2020 By Kenyra Rankin. All rights reserved.

Although SIBA has modified when appropriate for a bookseller audience, the majority of prompts and resources come directly from the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge created by Food Solutions New England (FSNE). We are so grateful for their extraordinary work creating this program and making it available to other organizations.