Season Two Finale - Bethaney Takes the Mic

Episode Summary: For the final episode of season two of The Diversity Gap Podcast, Bethaney takes the mic and shares a few reflections on this season of the podcast and this current cultural moment. Thanks for listening and for being a part of this community. We look forward to being with you for season three in the future!

Transcript

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

diversity, season, episode, pacing, people, organizations, conversation, podcast, head, instagram, moment, flourish, lives, racial justice, amante, move, speak, black lives, gap, vera

SPEAKERS

Bethaney Wilkinson

Bethaney Wilkinson  00:24

Welcome to The Diversity Gap podcast where we are exploring the gap between good intentions and good impact as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion. My name is Bethaney Wilkinson, and I am your host. Hey there good people. Glad you're here. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of The Diversity Gap podcast. This is the end of season two, it's the end of season two. And it's so crazy because when we started season two, it was the week before many people across the country were sheltering in place. And so I had The Diversity Gap event. And then literally the next week, we're all kind of on lockdown. And so it's been a really wild few months full of a lot of tragedy, a lot of loss, and full of a lot of change, and seemingly some some degree of progress, I would say. Yeah, so as kind of closing out the season, I wanted to hop on and do a short and quick episode, just kind of recapping some of the lessons from the season that have been really sticking out to me. And yeah, so I'm just gonna walk through some things that have been sticking out to me in this current moment, but also as it relates to the past few months as a whole. And this will probably be a shorter episode, because it's just me on the mic. Nobody else will be here for this episode. I had a couple of other conversations I could have released, but they weren't quite as relevant to today as I wanted them to be. And so hopefully, I'll be able to share with those with you. In the future. Maybe as bonus episodes, we'll see. But um, yeah, so I guess to dive in, I only have a few points here. My first thought is I want to kick it back to gosh, I guess it was the beginning of May, which was Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and in light of COVID-19. And a lot of the anti Asian racism that many Asian and Asian Americans are experiencing here in the US. I don't know, I can't speak to the global context. But I know here in the US, I thought it was really important to kind of double down on centering Asian and Asian American voices for the podcast. And so I was able to talk to so many brilliant humans, Kathy Khang, who's an author and a yoga teacher, one of my favorite things from that conversation, when she talked about the importance of speaking words of conviction that he'll and I talked about this kind of in my commentary within that episode. But even in this current moment, as we are processing, another just kind of flare of attention and focus on anti black racism and on and on the racial violence of the that's found in the policing system. As we're focusing on that in this moment, I've been reminded of Kathy's challenge to us that we would be brave in our interactions with one another, on our teams and our families, maybe even on Instagram, that we will be brave, and that we would speak words of conviction not for the sake of being disruptive, but for the sake of healing. So often, we, we shy away from saying the hard thing, because we don't want to cause harm, when in fact, our silence is way more harmful than us speaking up and engaging in the wrestle and the struggle and the tumble of of trying to advocate for a different and better way of being and so I'm wondering for you, what does it look like to speak words of conviction that heal and it doesn't have to be on Instagram, it can be with your parents, it can be with your spouse, it can be with your friends, it can be with your boss, and but what does it look like to show up honestly, in those moments, and to be more invested and having a good impact than in our fear of saying the wrong thing. So I've been thinking about that. And if you struggled to know how to use your voice, I definitely recommend that you check out that episode with Kathy. Um, another episode from that season or from it's from this podcast season. But from that month of interviews that I've been thinking about a lot, is my interview with Vera learned. And I'm highlighting these not because they were better or more important than the others. It's just that they are the ones that like those these messages have been tumbling over in my head a lot. And so I'm bringing them back up. I don't even have these written down. This is like off the dome, top of my head. These are the ones that have been really prevalent in my mind. So Vera, towards the end of our conversation. She works for IJM on the International Justice Mission, and she's a creative director there. And at the very end of our conversation, I asked her, What is the diversity gap and how does she define it and she He says, and I'm putting my own words on this. But how I understood it, she says that the diversity gap is the pause. It is the pause when someone new walks into a room and they're asking themselves, do I fit? Do I belong here? And it's like a quick, instant moment. But in that pause is, is where that person is gathering everything that they need to know about being in that environment and being in that space. And it makes me think, what do we, as leaders do? What can we do to make sure that when people show up in an environment in a space, that they quickly come to the conclusion that it is a space that is not only safe for them, but it's a space where they can flourish in a space where they can thrive? How do we make it so that when people experience that pause, they come to a positive conclusion. So as you are out here, if you're hiring people, if you are creating any kind of community space, or events, who are you creating those spaces for? And how can you ensure that that people know it's for them when they walk through the door. So I love that conversation, I highly recommend that you go back and check it out. So two weeks ago, I shared an episode of my conversation with Dr. Darnisa Amante-Jackson, and this one was one of my favorites, you're not supposed to have a favorite. But this was one of my favorite conversations, because it was so powerful, and illuminating for me as someone who aspires to be about anti racism and about diversity work in the world. And it's just full of so many great nuggets for leaders of organizations and teams. But the one thing that she said that has been really sticking out to me, that I think is really critical for this moment, is that change takes a long time, change takes a long time. And I know many non black people have been waking up to the prevalence of anti black racism in a new way over the past few weeks. And, and there's been a lot of action and activity and momentum around that which I think is so good, and so needed. And yet, and is also so good. And so needed for us to know that moving from homogeneity to diversity can take one to two years. And then moving from diversity to belonging can take another one to two years. And then moving from belonging to inclusion can take another one to two years. And then moving from inclusion to equity often takes another one to two years. And so we're talking about an eight to maybe even 10 year long process of change for your company, for your church, for your organization, for your community group. Change doesn't happen overnight. And so I'm wondering for you what, like, how are you thinking about that? Like, how does knowing that this is going to take many, many years? How does that impact how you move forward? Now, I think it was a couple of weeks ago, after perhaps after the news caught wind of the murder of Ahmad Arbury. I saw some posts on Instagram where a woman was pretty much saying that it's really important that we do the internal work the work that nobody sees the work of learning and, and unlearning and of confessing where we believed bad and wrong and incorrect and racist things and all of that work of transformation, that internal work that no one sees. That's the stuff that I guess I just want to say that that stuff really matters, I don't want to say that it's more important than the public facing stuff. But it's at least just as important. So if you listen to 20 podcasts over the past two weeks, but you haven't taken time to evaluate your life, your internal world to actually experience change, and transformation, then I don't know how sustainable it's going to be, you're just going to have new information. And we live in a culture that really values like head knowledge, and we don't spend enough time really interrogating how bias lives in our bodies. And that's just so important. There's a podcast from season one with a man named Shawn Duncan and he talks about the bias that lives in our bodies. And I'm reading a book right now called my grandmother's hands by oh gosh, I know his first names Rasma I'm gonna mess up his last name because I don't have it spelled out in my head. But my grandmother's hands, I can link to it in the show notes. It's all about how this trauma, this racialized trauma lives in our bodies. And so it can't just be stuff we learn in our heads. But we have to practice embodying a new way and and so yeah, I'm kind of going down a rabbit hole. But going back to what I was saying about Dr. Amante-Jackson's point that change takes a long time. How are you pacing yourself for progress? How are you pacing yourself to make it last and and I do think that for organizations, it's a little bit different organizations, I think tend to move pretty slowly anyway. And in some ways, I think they move to slowly and they need to just start changing and breaking stuff. I think I think the leaders, perhaps I'm just postulating now, but it's like the leaders need to be doing the internal work. And they need to be pushing and pushing and pushing for institutional accountability, and institutional restructuring and institutional change. I think it's okay to move really quickly there. But anyway, that's just food for thought. Think about the timing, think about how you're pacing yourself. Yeah. So I guess in closing, I have a couple of final thoughts, and they're really mostly about me. I, over the past few weeks have all too, I guess, before I get to the point about me, I've been thinking a lot about how Black Lives Matter, of course, and how Black Lives mattering is kind of the bare minimum, you know what I'm saying? And it's like, what about Black Lives thriving, or Black Lives creating, or Black Lives dreaming, you know, for our lives to matter is the bare minimum? And I think is good. I'm really happy that people are saying that and they're marching and believing that and, and advocating for that. I love it. It's it's essential. I'm also wondering, what would it look like for us to take a stand and to say, yes, Black Lives Matter. And Black Lives flourish here, Black Lives flourish here, as organizations are like making these statements and sending out 1,000,001 emails about their new, profound awakening to racial justice. I keep thinking, yeah, you're saying black lives matter. But Can Black Lives flourish and your company? Can they flourish? Can they lead Can Black Lives create in that space, because that would be revolutionary, that would really be revolutionary. And so as I look at my own life, and my own leadership in this season, I'm really grateful that season two is ending, because I need a break. And I need some time a to go work on my book, because I'm writing a book. You'll hear more about that. During podcast season three, I'm sure. But yeah, I've just been really convicted by by myself, but also by my community that if my life if I Bethaney, not even because I do racial justice stuff. Like that's not even the point. If I'm not well, just because I exist, if I'm not able to flourish and thrive and be healthy and hold my body, then what's the point? You know, what's the point, one of my favorite quotations, it's from a group called lead to life. And it's kind of one of their I feel like it's one of their guiding messages is that black wellness is the antithesis of state violence. And I don't, I don't remember who exactly said that, but, but yeah, I've just been really sitting with that, like, I have to be well at to take care of myself. And it is okay for me to rest and to take a break. And so I'm really excited that this season is ending for a little bit to give me some time to rest and reset and to, just to become more aligned with who I'm supposed to be and what my unique contribution is to the world and to this work. And so I hope that as we get into the rest of the summer, entering into the third quarter of this year, that you will not only respond to racial injustice, with a with appropriate urgency, because there is an urgency, but my hope is that you would also be mindful of the long run, and that you would pace yourself and, and one of my heart's desires, especially after I come out with a season of rest is to find ways to really journey with people more intentionally journey with leaders journey with organizations, as they go on their change as they enter into there change processes because I'm really passionate about about that accompaniment of others. And, and yeah, so So respond with urgency and pace yourself. Yeah, do both things. So that's all I've got friends. Thank you for listening. Thanks for being a part of this project. I'm stretching and feel so good.  Um, yeah, I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for your contributions for your time. I'm honored and humbled that you that you see fit to listen to me talk about anything. That's huge. And I hope that you have a good summer and I will catch you here sometime in the future. Bye. Thank you for listening to The Diversity Gap podcast. If you've been challenged or inspired by what you've heard, please rate and review the show. You can also subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode. If you have thoughts or questions I'd love to hear from you connect with me at thediversitygap.com or on Instagram @TheDiversityGap. The Diversity Gap podcast is recorded on Muskogee Creek land in Atlanta, Georgia. This episode was produced by Matt Olin for Soul Graffiti Productions.