Black Humanity: More Than a BLM Sticker

I’ve spent a good amount of my professional career, and I could even say my life, pushing people to be better. I am a LEO, Enneagram 8, and INTJ mash-up. If you know what any of this means, then you know I am pushing, also known as sometimes dragging, other times cheerleading, and often times serving as a mirror for people to see the best in themselves. All of this is so that they will be a better human for themselves and others around them. I am often heard saying, “we need to learn how to be better humans” or “we don’t know how to be good humans".

I mean that with everything in me and though it pains me I can point to countless examples that have proven my thoughts correct. I also have reason to believe that we haven’t really in the universal sense had to be good humans to be successful or advance.

The difference in this moment in our history of humanity is that we’ve all been sitting at home trying to figure out how to save ourselves in the midst of a burning world (see debates on Critical Race Theory, mask mandates vs not, vaxxers vs anti-vaxxers, and the list goes on).

Following the murders of so many namely Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Sean Reed, Toni McDade, Elijah McClain, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, as well as the constant and irreverent harassment of Black people in general everyday lives, further exacerbated by a dual global pandemic - Covid-19 and systemic racism - and a highly volatile political season, we are having a moment that reminds us that our progress still needs work. We are indeed in terrible trouble if some things don’t change.

I’ve spent most of the pandemic - all two years of it by the time I pressed send on this piece written in 2020 - battling the rush for organizations and leaders to prove that they are “good” humans or more explicitly, not racist.

Because I have a particular (read: candid and practical) way of presenting information on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, anti-racism, and the development of culture, I have received more calls than I can count from organizations wanting to spring into action - some immediately and others more thoughtfully and over time. Admittedly, I have struggled to be as responsive to some of them because it just didn’t feel genuine. That doesn’t mean they didn’t genuinely want to host a training or develop a consulting relationship where we worked through their “George Floyd made me reflect” moment. But instead, as I have reminded many leaders, this reflection is beyond overdue. And, if George Floyd’s nine minute murder is what sparked you into action, then I am not as convinced that after he’s long forgotten the work will continue.

This also doesn’t mean performative acts haven’t been necessary in elevating the need for the conversation for a better society for more than a few. I’d almost call it a necessary evil. In a lot of ways organizations have continued looking for the “business case” to even start these conversations. So they hire a consultant to give them all the data points and metrics to make a case for why they should be more inclusive of all types of people. People, for the record who are likely descendants of ancestors who invented some mechanism to do the job better. (As a note, I am not the right consultant for making a business case for humanity). I’ve also heard organizations say that there is a pipeline issue in regards to hiring a more diverse talent pool. So they post up at Historically Black Colleges and Universities to give out jobs in organizations that remain unsafe for Black and brown people. Oh, and I won’t get started on the Black squares on Instagram. You can just google more about how that was co-opted and overshadowed. These performances have become a bright light on just how little some are willing to do.

All of that was a set-up to say what I have been getting around to. Black Humanity has been and continues to be purposefully overlooked, blatantly disrespected, and historically excluded. I say this adamantly because if Black Humanity was valued then we would move from the constant study and exercise of anti-racism or acronymed courses - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, Access). We would move away from having to prove how people increase the bottom line; particularly people whose ancestors were here first as Indigenous people or were brought here to keep and labor over the land as enslaved Africans. We would stop centering whiteness and white supremacy with outlandish ideals about professionalism. And we would get honest with ourselves about how unsafe most environments are.

It has been astonishing, yet maybe not so surprising, how anti-blackness has been rushed by because it’s one of the truest indicators of how racist we are as a society. No one wants to be seen as racist so it’s easier to ignore.

Organizations and leaders really need to at some point center the Black perspective. This means that if you’ve started the journey in areas like women’s equality or support for the LGBTQIA+ community that you must circle back to how those identities intersect with the Black community. If that is not done then it is likely that whiteness - norms, beliefs, and behaviors based out of white ideology - will continue to be centered.

And to be even more explicit if there is a commitment to an anti-racism journey - individually or institutionally - you can not do so without understanding the depths of racism, race, and anti-blackness. There must be a requirement to evaluate how those historically oppressive and socially constructed views have been the underpinning of harm in our general society and also in the workplace. This goes beyond a general implicit bias training* or one time DEI**workshop. The “work” that everyone has been saying they are doing goes beyond the words and must get to the action. And yes, actions require mistakes, edits, and grace.

Black Humanity is worth more than just a notion or a Black Lives Matter sticker in the window. Black Humanity requires evaluation of power and its (re)distribution, it requires budgets, it requires leadership shifts and culture changes. And also it requires us to forget this false narrative that somehow Black folks are being given hand-outs, or the constant questioning about the credentials to do innovative and groundbreaking work. Google is your friend to see the examples.

I remember talking to a friend and colleague and I found myself at an almost elevated and passionate voice saying, “we are raised to be socially good and not morally good.” Embracing Black Humanity is your chance to be morally good, even when it’s uncomfortable.

I’ve said for a long time that when I finish one of the many books I am writing, drafting, and editing (rinse and repeat) that I would write a book on How to Be a Better Human. This extended pandemic season has refined that thought. I believe instead I may be led to write about Black Humanity, also known as the ways in which the world can see, receive, respect, believe, honor, accept, and elevate Black individuals because of the vast contributions to the human race. My son deserves that.

*The implicit bias training I lead is deeply rooted in individual identity and how systemic areas of oppression, particularly racism, have shaped all of our lives.

**You are always encouraged to spell out Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The use of DEI here is to show how the ease of use in which we acronym heavy topics is apart of the erasure of actual work.

about Kia Jarmon

Kia Jarmon is not an expert on diversity, equity, and inclusion, instead she works at the intersection of culture, community, crisis, and communications and those inevitably require extensive background knowledge on people, history, and how to rectify the unjust systems of power and privilege that make any of her work challenging. With that, don’t be shocked if she uses words and discusses topics that are not often talked about among traditional communicators, she’s an entrepreneur and a business owner looking to re-engineer what excellence looks like.