Segun Olowookere reflects on Black History Month and explores the critical role of leaders in fighting racism all year long.
It’s October again, already!
What a year it has been so far, but for me I’m excited to see what this year’s Black History Month brings.
Black History Month is a celebration of black men and women who have and who continue to achieve great things. Founded in the USA, it eventually spread to other nations. In the UK, October is the chosen month to celebrate our Black leaders.
No matter the month, there’s good reason we take a month to celebrate.
Black Lives Matter and so does Black History Month.
2020 has seen the rise of the Black Lives Matter protests globally.
Some argue that the focus should be All Lives Matter, or perhaps an All Lives History month. All lives do matter, but we say Black Lives Matter in acknowledgement that we still have a problem of racism in our societies today.
This racism is expressed both consciously and unconsciously, on many levels from individual to organisation to systematic.
It matters that we as societies, and as leaders, draw attention to this reality.
Is this Progress or an Abusive Relationship?
I recently came across a powerful quote from the American comedian Chris Rock. He asks a hard question about progress on racism. I have paraphrased it below, adding a few thoughts of my own.
We are in the fight against ignorance, insecurity, shortcomings and miseducation.
The fight is a brawl to help everyone see and understand that all people are equal.
Humanity is not progress for humans as equality only takes us back to zero. How do we move forwards towards infinity where the number of people being and feeling empowered is witnessed in high numbers? With positive figures and leaders taking responsibility and where turning a blind eye to racism or being ignorant about the issue is no longer acceptable.
If one of our friends or family members were in an abusive relationship and their partner started beating them less, we wouldn’t really say their relationship is making progress.
But this is what we do with racism and black people, brown people, and others who look different or are a minority.
We are constantly told progress is being made. But to put it another way, all it is saying is that in this relationship we are in, we are getting beaten less.
Three Steps for Leaders to Lead the Way, and Themselves.
Many individuals and organisations are fighting this brawl today.
Trying to make positive change at home and around the world in places that are worse off financially. Some organisations are helping to shift the way we lead and make changes at the individual, organisational and systematic level.
But more leaders are needed.
For those leading today, one key challenge for us is to identify and to support our current and upcoming leaders who will be part of the future Black History Month celebrations.
We need leaders who fight for change, who stop the talking and who take solid action along with the sacrifices that may be needed along the way.
To make the change through our leaders, we must make the change as leaders.
I enjoyed a post on LinkedIn recently, which annoyingly I can no longer find! It described three zones of leadership on anti-racism. It shared three steps that leaders can take to move from fear to growth around the topic of racism.
- Fear zone: Turning any denial and avoidance to comfort and being open to the issue.
- Learning zone: Starting to turn comfort into curiosity, listening well, educating yourself and reducing blind spots.
- Growth zone: Leveraging your leadership position to help create environments where we can help others get out of their fear zone but continue to learn and to challenge racism when you see it.
These steps help everyone to assess and identify where they personally sit as a leader around the issue of racism. We recently held an anti-racist session with our directors at Restless Development, exploring practical steps to help us all move forward into the next zone. We shared many ideas and different approaches.
The first step, though, is to identify which zone we are in personally and make the decision to move.
The Future Leaders of Black History Month.
We are all leaders in some capacity.
So as leaders let’s take the challenge to take the steps needed to become and to help create the next generation of Black History Month celebrants.
Let’s recognise the fight we are in. Let’s take inspiration in the steps we can take as leaders to make change.
May one day in the future our world celebrate everyone, everywhere, everyday.
Stay amazing, stay blessed.
#EndSARS #StopNigerianGoverment
