Anti-Racism Policy

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Our Goals

Mission Equality is committed to anti-racism as its primary goal.  The purpose of this policy is:

• To enable us as an organisation to recognise and address racist thinking, feeling and behaviour so that we can be part of advancing racial equality in day to day practices, in the company and in the wider world, creating a safe environment for all members of our team, whatever their heritage, culture and ethnicity.
• To document our practices and ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, belonging and anti-racism.
• To detail how we will continually move toward anti-racism so that everyone who works with us in any capacity - leaders, team members, suppliers, customers, clients, affiliates, partners and all other stakeholders - have a reference for our  stance, beliefs, values and attitudes in this arena.
• To set out our beliefs and to clarify our approach to becoming anti-racist leaders and an anti-racist organisation.

Impact & Scope

All leaders, employees, contractors, associates, partners and affiliates of Mission Equality (the company) will read and sign to confirm that they agree with the principles of this policy and that they will follow its procedures without exception in all that they do as a member of or a representative of the company.

Policy Statement

• The company is committed to holding anti-racism and an anti-racist way of being as its goal and direction of travel in all that the company is, decides, does and in its values.
• The company acknowledges white supremacy and the impact of racism inside itself as a micro expression of our wider society.
• The company recognises that not all racism is intended and also that the perpetrator or perceived perpetrator of racism is, and will be held as, accountable for its impact.
• The company recognises that racism and its impact and the harm caused is a white person’s problem to acknowledge and resolve.
• The company recognises that if a Black or Brown person who is a member or a stakeholder of our company alleges behaviour that they experience as racist, we do not and we will not question the impact this may have on that member.
• The company recognises that all racism including structural, unconscious, unintended and interpersonal is harmful.
• The company is built on the founders’ passion for modelling and building anti-racist ways of being and their commitment to their individual and collective continuing education around this.
• The company is committed to and supports open conflict, challenge and feedback from Black and Brown people, and welcomes any uprising of white discomfort caused by this.
• The company will invest resources into Black and Brown communities and individuals and will operate in such a way that embeds this into our practices.

Mission Equality is committed for the duration of its existence to being an anti-racist organisation. This means that everything we think, feel, express and do will be from an acknowledgement of the existence of racism and a continuous movement away from it and toward anti-racism.

Procedures

General company practices across Mission Equality as an organisation:

• We will celebrate and amplify the voices of our leaders, associates, affiliates, partners and customers with lifelong experience of racism by offering learning experiences to our audience and promoting those voices across our marketing platforms.
• The white people working at Mission Equality will not lean on Black and Brown colleagues to teach or guide us toward anti-racism unless we contract cleanly and pay them to do so.
• We will work to raise our conscious awareness of our thinking, feeling and behaviour that is racist. We will learn and grow on an ongoing basis. We will commit to uncovering, dismantling and eradicating racism in ourselves, in our company and in our wider societies.
• White people will take responsibility for the impact of their words and actions regardless of their intentions  and will seek to minimise impact with ongoing, persistent and consistent work on becoming anti-racist.
• We will each take responsibility for creating, refining and being an anti-racist company.
• We will actively seek, invite, encourage and welcome applications to join our company from Black and Brown people, to ensure a majority across the team.
• Employees, contractors, associates, partners and affiliates are encouraged and supported to build upon their knowledge, understanding and anti-racism action taking.

Our Founders’ & Leaders’ Commitment

The founders and leaders at Mission Equality promise to:

• Work towards the embodiment of anti-racism in all of our work, holding it in the forefront of how we approach each aspect of what we work on.
• Invest in our own individual learning around racism in our continuing movement toward becoming anti-racist as individuals, as leaders and as the founder of Mission Equality.
• Every meeting will include our commitment to anti-racism, opening up the space for any contribution, concern, challenge or anything at all that anybody has to bring and discuss around racism
• Create opportunity and hold space for our associates and affiliates to raise any contribution, concern challenge or any other matter related to racism.
• Welcome and support discomfort, conflict, contribution and challenge around racism and we will approach this with open ears,  hearts and minds.
• Work to bring this policy to life in all that we do.
• Pay for our own learning and growth as individuals committed to anti-racism and as leaders of a company committed to being the change we want to see in our world.
• Welcome contact from all associates, affiliates and customers on racism issues and respond within 24 hours to any disclosure of racism.
• Manage racism in a way that shows our zero tolerance policy and our belief that perpetrators of racism are responsible for addressing and mending harm.

Managing Racism

In managing racism in Mission Equality, the following principles will guide our work:

We acknowledge that all white people are racist. Most are unintentionally racist and all are, by nature, racist due to having been raised within systemic racism and having unconsciously benefited.

We acknowledge that different people have different levels of awareness and understanding of their own racism.

We are alert to, we hear, we account for and we challenge all perceived racism.

We welcome challenge and discomfort and the company will encourage, hold and manage this without shutting it down and will not allow the discomfort experienced by any white person or people to silence conflict or challenge.

White people will not decide what is and what is not appropriate, uncomfortable, necessary or permitted in the arena of listening to the voices of Black and Brown people.

We will hold ourselves and other people accountable for the impact of racism.

We will hear experiences of racism from Black and Brown people and we will know that they are true.

While we accept that all white people are racist, we will work with white people only under the condition they show a commitment to acknowledging, deconstructing and moving beyond racism.

Any and all incidences of perceived racism must be reported to the Mission Equality leadership team. At the time of writing this policy, this means the co-founders Lea Jovy-Ford or Sharon Hurley Hall at hello@MissionEquality.com. Not reporting experienced racism allows systemic racism to continue and we are committed to ending it.

The Mission Equality leadership team will, within 24 hours, nominate someone to discuss an allegation or report of racism with the victim, primarily to offer support and to meet their needs.

For complex situations that could affect the stability of the company itself, such as an incident involving one of the co-founders, any remediation process will be led by an agreed third party mediator.

Mission Equality holds a zero tolerance approach to perceived racism. If significant harm is caused (this measure will always come from the person who experienced the impact of the racist behaviour/action) by any leader, associate or affiliate of Mission Equality, the perpetrator may be asked to cease working for Mission Equality with immediate effect.

While never minimising the harm caused, any response or remediation process will also take into account the response of the harmed person, noting that this may be affected by past trauma and events. In this situation, it is expected that the harmed person will take responsibility for this area of their own growth in alignment with the company's values. Mission Equality commits to supporting the harmed person in better understanding their responses to racism, especially in relation to previous trauma, while continuing to hold perpetrators of racism to account.

For any report of racism, perpetrators will be offered the opportunity and expected to take remedial action. Provided they accept responsibility and take action, AND no significant harm has been caused, they may remain at the company. They will be offered the opportunity to acknowledge their racism and to attend to their learning and self development needs with an expectation of full ownership of the behaviour, regardless of intent, and an observable improvement in behaviour. We will invite and expect them to detail the remedial measures they will take and we will hold them to account to prove that this has been conducted and to show their learning in the way they behave.

The goal of any initiated remediation process is repair and growth. Should the people concerned/involved not be acting with these goals in mind, this will also be noted. If there is a pattern of repeated harm (of any kind), if responsibility is not taken, if remedial and restorative work is not completed, or if there is no improvement within a three-month period (guided by the leadership AND the harmed person), the perpetrator will be asked to cease working for Mission Equality with immediate effect.

We will ALWAYS prioritise the safety and wellbeing of a victim of racism over the needs, wishes and wants of an alleged perpetrator.

Exceptions

There are no exceptions to this policy.

Glossary of Terms

Anti-Racism 

Anti-racism is identifying and actively opposing racism and racist impacts  in all forms and at all levels, including individual, interpersonal, institutional, structural and systemic racism.

 “The opposite of racist isn't 'not racist.' It is 'anti-racist.' What's the difference? One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equality as an anti-racist. One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an anti-racist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist. There is no in-between safe space of 'not racist.”

― SOURCE: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

"Being antiracist results from a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. These choices require ongoing self-awareness and self-reflection as we move through life. In the absence of making antiracist choices, we (un)consciously uphold aspects of white supremacy, white-dominant culture, and unequal institutions and society. Being racist or antiracist is not about who you are; it is about what you do."

- SOURCE: Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture

White Supremacy 

The belief and ideology that white people and their thoughts, ideas, beliefs and actions are inherently superior to and should dominate and take precedence over people of the global majority (including Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian people and others) and their thoughts, ideas, beliefs and actions.

"While most people associate white supremacy with extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis, white supremacy is ever present in our institutional and cultural assumptions that assign value, morality, goodness, and humanity to the white group while casting people and communities of color as worthless (worth less), immoral, bad, and inhuman and "undeserving." Drawing from critical race theory, the term "white supremacy" also refers to a political or socio-economic system where white people enjoy structural advantage and rights that other racial and ethnic groups do not, both at a collective and an individual level."

– SOURCE: Dismantling Racism Works web workbook

Ally 

"Allyship is an active and consistent practice of using power and privilege to achieve equity, inclusion, and justice while holding ourselves accountable to marginalized people’s needs."

 – SOURCE: Michelle MiJung Kim, The Wake Up

"Allies understand that it is in their own interest to end all forms of oppression, even those from which they may benefit in concrete ways. Allies commit to reducing their own complicity or collusion in oppression of those groups and invest in strengthening their own knowledge and awareness of oppression."

– SOURCE: OpenSource Leadership Strategies, “The Dynamic System of Power, Privilege and Oppressions.” and Center for Assessment and Policy Development.

Implicit Bias

Also known as unconscious or hidden bias, implicit biases are negative associations that people unknowingly hold. They are expressed automatically, without conscious awareness. Many studies have indicated that implicit biases affect individuals’ attitudes and actions, thus creating real-world implications, even though individuals may not even be aware that those biases exist within themselves. Notably, implicit biases have been shown to trump individuals’ stated commitments to equality and fairness, thereby producing behavior that diverges from the explicit attitudes that many people profess.

– SOURCE: State of the Science Implicit Bias Review 2013, Cheryl Staats, Kirwan Institute, The Ohio State University.

Racism 

Racism is the intersection between prejudice and power, which creates advantages for one group over another. In a white dominant culture, racism privileges white people over all other people. Racism takes many forms:

• "Individual racism​ refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism in conscious and unconscious ways. The U.S. cultural narrative about racism typically focuses on individual racism and fails to recognize systemic racism."
• "Interpersonal racism​ occurs between individuals. These are public expressions of racism, often involving slurs, biases, or hateful words or actions."
• "Institutional racism​ occurs in an organization. These are discriminatory treatments, unfair policies, or biased practices based on race that result in inequitable outcomes for whites over people of color and extend considerably beyond prejudice. These institutional policies often never mention any racial group, but the intent is to create advantages."
• "Structural racism​ is the overarching system of racial bias across institutions and society. These systems give privileges to white people resulting in disadvantages to people of color."

SOURCE: Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture

White Privilege

"Since white people… hold most of the political, institutional, and economic power, they receive advantages that nonwhite groups do not. These benefits and advantages, of varying degrees, are known as white privilege. … White people can possess other marginalized parts of their identity, but their race is not one of these."

SOURCE: Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture

White Fragility 

Per Robin DiAngelo, white fragility is “a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable [for white people], triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.”

– SOURCE: White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo

Black Lives Matter

A political movement to address systemic and state violence against African Americans. Per the Black Lives Matter organizers: “In 2013, three radical Black organizers—Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi—created a Black-centered political will and movement building project called #BlackLivesMatter. It was in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman.

The project is now a member-led global network of more than 40 chapters. [Black Lives Matter] members organize and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”

– SOURCE: Black Lives Matter, “Herstory”