From Supreme Court cases to state-level legislation, the past year has brought unprecedented attacks on critical race theory, diversity, equity and inclusion, school curricula and the books available to the general public, as well as affirmative action. Black communities have borne the brunt of conservative “culture wars,” as they’ve been dubbed, which have left community leaders reeling and wondering how to launch not just a defensive strategy, but also a proactive one that asserts the possibilities for justice that lie through the strategies being dismantled.
“We must not be deterred or paralyzed in fear or confusion,” said Susan Taylor Batten, president and CEO of ABFE. “Instead, we must stay focused on the goal of increasing resources to Black communities to build political and economic power; our communities are depending on us.”
ABFE is a membership-based philanthropic organization advocating for and serving Black communities since 1971. As a convener, ABFE is uniquely positioned to direct foundation and nonprofit leaders nationwide around a cohesive vision. At their annual conference this year, held in St. Louis late last month, the ABFE team curated programming that spoke to the alarming socio-political events encroaching upon Black economic mobility and intellectual autonomy. From workshops on reparations and the burgeoning cannabis industry to plenaries on philanthropic calls to action, the convening sparked deep conversations about advocating for Black futures overall.
Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump addressed the room with urgency and vigor. “They are emboldened with overt racism [and] attacks on our Black literature, Black history, Black culture, and diversity, equity and inclusion,” he declared. “If we engage in strategic defiance, these enemies of equality will not prevail.”
Speaking directly to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ devaluation of African-American Advanced Placement courses, Crump encouraged the audience to continue speaking truth to power knowing that “we have a permanent cause and that cause is our children and our future.” Throughout his speech, Crump decried the book bans and censorship sweeping the nation while reminding the philanthropic community to use all the power at their disposal. As an attorney, Crump is doing everything he can to bring forward lawsuits in states with Democratic leadership where precedents could be set. While legal professionals are fighting in the courts, what can philanthropists do to meet the needs of this moment?
One afternoon session, titled “Affirmative Action Meets Transformative Philanthropy,” was designed to answer just that question by reinforcing the need for a collective commitment to equity and inclusion in the face of social and racial opposition. During the panel, speakers addressed the philanthropic implications of recent Supreme Court decisions and how to navigate these new barriers with zeal and laser focus.
Reverend Tracy Blackman opened her remarks with a story. “In the fall of 1980,” she said, “I was an 18-year-old senior in a predominantly white, academically rigorous, and abundantly endowed high school in Birmingham, Alabama.” Blackman was the only Black student in her class. “I benefited greatly from the affirmative action policies instituted during the ’60s in response to the civil rights movement,” she continued. “Not because I was ill-equipped to compete on my own, but rather because my preparedness was in no way a match for the presumptions of what it means to show up in exclusively reserved white space with Black skin.”
Throughout the session, panelists emphasized the importance of community resistance to attacks on affirmative action. “Affirmative action has been hanging by a thread for decades, with race-conscious admissions surviving by one-vote margins,” Blackman said. In particular, the speakers suggested that philanthropy isn’t doing enough and that there is room for more robust action. Here are three ways grantmakers can step up, drawing on observations and suggestions from the session.
1. Fund attacked institutions. “Philanthropic organizations need to understand that an assault on affirmative action is an assault on public policy,” Rev. Blackman said. She called on philanthropic organizations to fill in the gaps left by the federal government. For example, large foundations can endow historically Black colleges and universities at the level of white peer institutions, not through restricted grants, but through substantive and historic gifts and investments.
“Where possible, we must ramp up our investments in power-building and civic engagement in communities of color,” reiterated Susan Taylor Batten, president and CEO of ABFE, “adopting long-term funding strategies robust enough to counter current and future attacks.” Batten called this phase of investing “a long haul.”
ABFE’s senior director of special projects, Bomani Johnson, cosigned Blackman’s reflections by affirming that racial justice programs won’t cease to exist if we don’t continue to privately fund them. “Our job,” Johnson said, “is to make sure that we not just move the money to the spaces where it needs to go, but that we move those institutions to actually do what we need them to do.” As Dariely Rodriguez, deputy chief counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, stated, “if they’re attacking DEI, that means we have to invest even more into DEI.”
2. Control the narrative. Dr. George Askew, president and CEO of the Meyer Foundation, called on narrative disparities around the crack cocaine versus opioid epidemics to reflect on the moment we’re in. What does properly addressing a problem mean when it’s affecting Black communities as opposed to others? “I’m an affirmative action baby,” said Sharon Nash Bush, president and CEO of the Grand Victoria Foundation, “and I went to college because of that.” But the statistics have not shifted much since then, Bush went on. Many recent attacks stem from the idea that the problem has been adequately addressed. “In a situation where there’s 49% of the student body that’s so-called diverse and [Black students] are 9%, what does that mean for us?” Bush asked. “It becomes less about representation and more about what are we entitled to. What happened to us… and what does that mean in terms of repair.”
Those of us in philanthropy must constantly center the fact that racism has not been solved because a handful of visible and wealthy Black people have found success. We must constantly reiterate that, by and large, disparities between Black and white Americans are wide and that the cause is a collective unwillingness to name and address that.
The more we link modern-day programs to historic wrongs and transgressions, the better we can justify the existence and funding of said initiatives. “There’s a misconception that the [Supreme Court] ruling did away with affirmative action, and that is not the case,” attorney Dariely Rodriguez said. “Affirmative action is still permissible in certain instances, including to remedy past instances of discrimination.” According to the Court, the goal of advancing diversity is too hard to measure, which has led to a huge uptick in legal action against racial equity programs. But these attacks haven’t always been legally successful. Instead, these quickly filed suits have been intended as a deterrent to scare people away from racial equity work. The more we shape our narratives around redress and affirm our right to facilitate such programs, the more we are able to avoid these narrative traps and scare tactics.
3. Mobilize churches and religious spaces. As a faith leader, Rev. Tracy Blackman specifically encouraged religious nonprofit entities to “deconstruct theologies of chosen-ness,” or the idea that God prefers some people over others. “The church is still the epicenter of community engagement in the Black community,” she said. “We must use that power to educate people in the pews.”
Blackman has joined 14 other clergy of various faiths to sue the state of Missouri for not honoring the separation of church and state after policymakers explicitly used religion to explain their efforts to abolish abortion access. “We can use our property for more than shouting,” Blackman said, encouraging faith-based philanthropists to open their spaces to the communities they serve and offer intellectually honest programming in the midst of material bans in schools, libraries and prisons. Further, Black churches could tithe 10% to advocacy organizations and share the billion-dollar influence they hold.
Brea Baker is a writer and activist who has been working on the frontlines for over a decade, first as a student activist and now as a national strategist. With a B.A. in political science from Yale University, Brea believes deeply in the need for nuanced storytelling and Black culture as tools for change.
