Anti-Racism Training: Exploring Systemic Racism with Systems Thinking
- 1. Anti-Racism Training: Exploring Systemic Racism with Systems Thinking TOBYSINCLAIR.COM
- 2. WORKSHOP OVERVIEW • Opening • Defining Terms • Systems Thinking Overview • Quick Fixes • Side Effects • Systemic Solutions • Using Systems Thinking to tackle Racism • Whats next? • Retrospective
- 3. 5 – No Problem, I’ll talk about anything 4 – I’ll talk about almost anything; a few things might be hard 3 – I’ll talk about some things, but others will be hard to say 2 – I’m not going to say much, I’ll let others bring up issues 1 – I’m not going to talk at all, I don’t feel safe. SAEFTY CHECK How can we make this a safe and inclusive discussion for everyone?
- 5. DEFINING TERMS A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups. By policy, I mean written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, and guidelines that govern people A racist idea is any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way. Racist Policy Racist Idea One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea. Racist Racism is a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities. Racism
- 6. Typically, organizations focus on a single-issue or on a narrow set of closely related issues. We work on housing, or air quality or health, in communities that are defined by immigration, race, and class. By focusing on one issue, such as housing, air quality, or health, we try to explain differential outcomes for entire segments of the population, such as what groups of people live in substandard housing, breathe contaminated air, or have poor health outcomes. This approach uses a ‘one dimensional‘ understanding of an issue. Since issues are multi-dimensional, we need to use multidimensional thinking to consider and strategize about differential outcomes. To illustrate our meaning, imagine a caged bird. By examining one bar of the cage, we cannot explain why the bird cannot fly. However, on evaluating the multiple bars arranged in specific ways that reinforce each other, we see that the effect of the bars is structural and cumulative such that the bird is trapped. If the bird falls ill because of poor air quality, and is unable to fly away, the owner might fault the bird; however, the illness of the bird trapped inside a particular environment should be seen as evidence that the environment is inappropriate, and that the system that trapped the bird is not working. Systems Thinking And Race - John Powell https://www.racialequitytools.org/
- 7. Systems Thinking is a way of understanding how institutions that effect opportunity are arranged, and to what result. In other words, Systems Thinking examines the order of structures that give or take opportunity from particular groups of people, the timing of the interaction between these Opportunity Structures, and the relationships that exist between them. With this multi-dimensional thinking, or, ‘Systems Thinking,’ we can understand the context that produces consistently different housing, air quality, health, economic, and educational outcomes in different communities, and strategize on multiple fronts to change these outcomes. https://www.racialequitytools.org/ What is your reaction? Systems Thinking And Race - John Powell
- 8. Linear Problem Solving Challenges with traditional problem solving Jumping to quick fix solutions (Solution Bias) Belief in a single root cause People who solve problems quickly are praised Failure to see the side effects of any implemented solutions
- 9. Systems thinking is a disciplined approach for examining problems more completely and accurately before acting. It allows us to ask better questions before jumping to conclusions. Systems thinking often involves moving from observing events or data, to identifying patterns of behavior overtime, to surfacing the underlying structures that drive those events and patterns WHAT IS SYSTEMS THINKING? https://thesystemsthinker.com/
- 11. Systems Thinking helps identify the feedback loops present within systems. Often these feedback loops are ignored or hidden. Loops not Lines Feedback between elements of the system
- 12. Symptomatic Solutions or Quick Fixes are solutions that address the symptom but do not address the longer term problem. Symptomatic Solutions Help or Hinderance?
- 13. SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS Identify sustainable solutions Systemic solutions typically have a bigger impact in the long run. Rather than solve the symptom they seek to change the underlying structure, policies and rules which keep the problem in place.
- 14. Symptomatic solutions often have side effects which impact our ability to implement a systemic solution. The side effects often distract us from solving the real problem. Side Effects Limit the ability to introduce fundamental solutions
- 15. These diagrams are called "Causal Loop Diagrams". The plus and minus signs help describe the diagram Notation Going further with Causal Loop Diagrams Scenario: If Tiredness Increases then Coffee Consumption Increases (+) If Coffee Consumption Increases then Tiredness Decreases (-) If Coffee Consumption Increases then Sleeping Difficulty Increases (+) If Sleeping Difficulty Increases then Ability to Eliminate Coffee Decreases (-) If Ability to Eliminate Coffee Decreases Tiredness will Increase (+) What happens if Coffee Consumption Decreases? How might you Decrease Coffee Consumption?
- 16. A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups. By policy, I mean written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, and guidelines that govern people. ibram X. Kendi
- 17. Number of Black Employees in senior positions Number of Black Candidates who apply for positions Police Brutality to Black Citizens Barriers to High Quality Education Using the diagram first identify a problem the group would like to explore. Some ideas: Problem Identify a problem to explore
- 18. BREAKOUT: Identify examples of quick fixes to this problem?
- 19. BREAKOUT: What are some side effects of these quick fixes?
- 20. BREAKOUT: What are some more systemic solutions?
- 22. FURTHER LEARNING Documentary: 13th - Netflix Book: How to be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi Book: Thinking in Systems - Donella Meadows https://thesystemsthinker.com/