Continuing Our Learning Through the Urban League's Interrupt Racism Program:
"Wokeism to Ageism in the Workplace"
by Maia Taub
Case Manager, Monroe County Custody and Visitation Program
"If you're not seeking out DEI in some form . . . it's gonna fall on deaf ears, so I challenge you all to bring someone along." -- Wanda Cooper, new COO of the Urban League of Rochester
"Change is frightening. Especially to those in power." -- Hari Seldon, "Foundation" (Apple TV)
Dan Butler took us right back into the medicine bag, as he loves to put it. At our recent cohort team workshop, he pulled out wokeism and ageism in the workplace. "A fundamental danger of working to dispel stereotypes is the inherent risk that biases may be reinforced instead of eliminated," he said.
The word "woke" has been used in the Black community since as early as the 1930's to refer to being aware and alert to racial injustice. But the word has recently been weaponized, and there is an anti-woke identity that is the most weaponized of all. In Florida, the Stop WOKE Act, passed in the summer of this year, attempts to keep DEI training from striking at the roots of how racism (indeed, how race) began. You can read more about this act here:
https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/floridas-stop-woke-act-is-set-to-go-into-effect-on-july-1-what-should-employers-do.html
"It's almost as if [they're saying] we know what's happening . . . we don't want you to talk about it," Butler says of Florida, from the perspective of Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers. "It's free speech as long as it's advantageous to them."
"This is just another version of the new Jim Crow," says a cohort member.
When Butler says, "There are 330 million people in this country. Are we going to be controlled by a minority?" he raises an unusual juxtaposition of perspectives. Racists probably think they're the majority and BIPOC are the minority, but times have changed, and BIPOC and their accomplices present a strong opposition. "It's as if they don't want a multi-racial, multi-cultural democracy . . . Nobody's ever explained why you don't want it."
Butler joked that he was on a soapbox, but the cohort member who spoke after him was right in his summation: so many people want to preserve power and privilege and don't want to let go.
The other hot topic of the day was ageism. We were introduced to the concept of generational intelligence (GQ). Diversity has to account for all generations and micro-generations. Ageism refers to stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel), and discrimination (how we act) towards others or oneself based on age. The types of ageism are institutional, interpersonal, and internalized, roughly corresponding with the ways we think of institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism.
We talked about the Sandwich Generation, people who are between caring for their parents and caring for their children. I think of my friend Rachel, who while she was at CDS balanced work with her children's and her parents' needs, and how glad I am that we were able to accommodate her. There was also a lot of talk about engaging younger and older people, and the disconnect between the many groups. Traditionalists, Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z: who are we all? Some people call Gen Z the "iGeneration" because of Apple's boom since Gen Z's first years.
Watching presenters Andishey Simmons and Dan Butler interact during this discussion was about as informative as the slides themselves. They illustrated the disconnects and the ability to come together and show each other grace perfectly.
I will leave you with this:
One of the points that came up repeatedly during discussion was the need to prioritize doing this work. I think that's pertinent to CDS especially, since we were founded in response to racism and the topic of school integration. This work is part of our work, this work of waking up to racism and learning how to fight it. This work is a priority, too. Expect, when you come to work, to become part of that fight.
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