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Anti-Blackness and Racism

Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the humanitarian and development sector has had to contend with a racial reckoning and confront the deep-seated legacy of racism that has shaped and perpetuated our present-day aid structures. As many practitioners, academics, and activists have pointed out, the racism present in modern aid work is not a new phenomenon, but one that has persisted—often unnoticed or ignored by the organizations and individuals dedicated to saving lives and alleviating human suffering.

Below are some of the recommendations and resources compiled by our community on the topic of anti-Blackness and racism.

Recommendations

  1. Make anti-racism a central part of your work: Identify, recognize, and analyze how anti-Blackness and racist ideals or practices may show up in your organization. For example, ask: How do racism and anti-Blackness affect your hiring, recruitment, and retention processes?
  2. Engage in ongoing learning, collaboration, and development regarding anti-racism and anti-racist action by:
    1. Investing in racial bias training and providing resources for trainings that build awareness and opportunities within the workplace to create an environment conducive to learning about others’ cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.
    2. Create opportunities to engage and involve Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) staff in this process without resorting to tokenism or placing the burden on them.
  3. Understand the complexity of applying anti-racist work to a global lens: Recognize that the implications of race, ethnicity, color, and nationality for marginalized populations vary in different contexts around the world.
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