Giving Compass' Take:

• Vu Le uses the example of curb-cuts, designed for wheelchair users but an improvement for everyone, to explain why we need to focus more on diversity, equity, and inclusion during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• What more can you and/or your organization do to address inequalities during this pandemic and beyond? 

• Find COVID-19 funds to support. Look for funds focusing on marginalized communities. 

Lately, I’ve been getting more notices from colleagues distraught by their board or team saying things like “It’s a pandemic, we don’t have time to work on equity, diversity, and inclusion. Let’s get back to it when we get back to normal.” This view, that somehow equity work is like the parsley garnish to the risotto of “real work,” is pervasive.

This crisis has unfortunately further amplified this perspective for many people and organizations.

This is confusing, as we see a stronger recognition in society that this pandemic is disproportionally killing Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other folks from marginalized backgrounds, while destroying the economic livelihood of the already most vulnerable people, while more significantly affecting women, etc. So why are some people in our sector still not understanding the importance of equity within their own organizations during this time?

I think central to the problem is that most people have internalized the utilitarian concept of “the greatest good for the greatest number of people.” This means we do things that would help the most people. And when we are forced to choose, such as during crises, it is the most ethical choice to go with whatever would be best for the majority.

Like with bootstrapping, trickle-down economics, or resistance against using the Oxford Comma, we all need to unlearn this concept it if we want to advance a better world. We must ground ourselves in the belief that when we support and lift up the people most affected by injustice, it creates the most good in society and everyone benefits. There are lots of names for this: Targeted universalism, positive externality, etc. But I like what Angela Glover Blackwell calls it in her seminal article: The Curb-Cut Effect.

I recommend you read the entire article, published three years ago but more relevant than ever. A quick summary is that several decades ago in Berkeley California, Michael Pachovas and other disability activists fought for small ramps to be cut so that wheelchairs could go up and down the curbs. I’m sure during these days, just like every single time people fight for what is right, people will use the argument of “Why should we spend so much money to cut every single street corner when it only benefits a few wheelchair users?”

Well, they won, all the curbs were cut, and it made it much easier for folks using wheelchairs to move around. The curb cuts spread all over the US and something amazing resulted. As the article states:

Then a magnificent and unexpected thing happened. When the wall of exclusion came down, everybody benefited—not only people in wheelchairs. Parents pushing strollers headed straight for curb cuts. So did workers pushing heavy carts, business travelers wheeling luggage, even runners and skateboarders.

Our society, and especially our sector, must understand that helping people most affected by injustice is not just a nice thing to do because we’re good people. When we restore to wholeness those who are most oppressed, our community is stronger and we ALL benefit, every one of us.

Read the full article about equity, diversity, and inclusion during COVID-19 by Vu Le at Nonprofit AF.