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The nonprofit sector has a problem with racism and white supremacy. Well, not just the nonprofit sector - a lot of sectors and really, society in general. But hey - this is a podcast for the nonprofit sector, so we’re going to be focusing on that in today’s episode with Martha Awojobi, the curator of #BAMEOnline Conference, a series of online events that centers fundraisers of colour, showcases new talent, and gets to the heart of how we can dismantle structural racism in fundraising and in the wider charity sector. Martha is a consultant for non-profits specialising in event curation, recruitment and income generation with an anti-racist lens.
The truth is that philanthropy has a long history of excluding people of color from their missions and communities—and it's not just about money. It's also about how we think about making change.
Myths that Martha wants us to walk away from:
- Wealth is a product of individual hard work. The wealth in our sector didn’t come out of “hard work”. There was a history of wealth accumulation based on the theft of knowledge and on slavery that has built the riches that we see in philanthropy.
- White supremacy doesn’t exist in our sector. As a sector dedicated to “good work”, it’s hard to see that racism is also perpetuated. This is made worse by the fact that many people just put their head in the sand and don’t engage or want to talk about their privileges and how these systemic issues affect people of colour. We have to acknowledge that it exists and reflect on how we participate to create change.
Five Stages of Decolonization
- Rediscovery and recovery. Acknowledging racism, colonial practices and harm is hard work. This is all about learning and unlearning and discovering the ugly truth of colonization. We are all products of a white supremacist society and the first step is to recognize it in yourself and really dedicate yourself to learning.
- Mourning. This is the social process that we are supposed to do together. It involves grief, anger, and sadness. It's not just for people of color, white people have to dehumanize themselves in order to participate in the system of racism. Learning to let go in sadness and anger is part of the process.
- Dreaming. This is about decolonizing the mind to bring in new ideas instead of using the same ideas that have been introduced by colonizers. This is perhaps the hardest stage, but also exciting.
- Commitment. Establishing the intention to manifest your anti-racist vision.
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