Y-Vonne Hutchinson - How to Talk to Your Boss About Race : Speaking Up Without Getting Shut Down

Lets cut the bullshit.

Racism is real. Its profound. It touches all of us, no matter what color our skin is. If youve spent any time alive in this country, or in this world, you know this.

So what are you supposed to do about it? Since the mass outrage in response to the killing of George Floyd, protestors have taken to the streets (and to Instagram) to raise awareness about racism and demand action from the institutions that police us, govern us, and lead us. Cities defunded their police departments. And it is no longer controversial to say Black Lives Matter.

But weve also seen backlash. Some of that police funding came back. Racially motivated hate crimes against Black and Asian people have dramatically increased. Some states have even started cracking down on the way we teach about racism and our history in schools, panicking over critical race theory.

You might be one of those protesters. You might be worried about the backlash. You might have read How to Be an Antiracist and White Fragility. Heck, maybe you even have a whole book club. You now know that racism still exists and youre committed to creating antiracist change. And now youre stuck.

Thats where I come in.

I run ReadySet, a diversity consulting and strategy firm that works with Fortune 500 companies, the entertainment industry, tech companies, nonprofits, and government bodies to help them become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. When it comes to also making them antiracist? Lets just say were working hard and we have a long way to go.

If you are truly committed to antiracism, arguably nowhere is more important than your workplace, the place where you spend the majority of your waking hours and the institution where you have the most power to create change. Yesyou have power. Even if youre in a support role, instead of in the C-suite. Even if youre an executive assistant, not the chief executive officer.

This book does what it saysit teaches you how to talk to your boss about race and racism. Youll learn how to find your allies, how to recognize and make the most of your power within your organization, and how to prepare for your conversation to make it as effective as possible. Ill give you the prompts and one-liners that have worked best for me, and real talk about when, maybe, you should just walk away from your toxic workplace (and how to do it without burning bridgesor, how to explode them magnificently and publicly, if thats what you want).

In many ways, this book is a product of its time: the rise of the whistle-blower, the surge of interest in systemic racism, accelerated economic inequality, the unequal trauma of the pandemic that hurt people of color disproportionately, and the global rise in racist violence.

That is where we are now.

But this book is also timeless. Racism has existed for centuries. It was a foundational organizing principle of the United States, the country Im from. It restricts opportunities for people around the world. Our identities have always determined where weve been able to work comfortably. Potential has always been equitably distributed, while opportunity has not. That is the way things have always been.

But that could change. We can change it. Maybe everything thats happenedthe killings, the outrage, the events that weve lived through while I wrote this book, and the pain weve all had to navigate since thencould be just the catalyst we need.

I hope this book becomes your essential guide to translating pain into action, awareness into change. I hope you see this as a handbook to return to over and overyour guide to dismantling racism in the place where you spend most of your time. This book was written to help you navigate a conversation with your boss, but I hope that you use it for more than just that. The frameworks I introduce and the techniques we discuss can inform your antiracist work elsewhere, from the dinner table to your next PTA meeting. Wherever you are, theres someone you need to talk to about race.

I would argue the thing that racism does most effectively, aside from killing people and draining generations worth of collective potential, is waste time. I wasted my time trying to be the perfect Black person. I wasted my time trying to fix something that was never broken. I wasted my time trying to avoid racism instead of fighting it head-on. I wasted my time thinking there could be any fairness for people like me in the workplace without justice or repair.

I let racism waste my time, but you dont have to. Im willing to bet you bought this book because you are sick of wasting precious time not confronting the elephant in the room. Chances are you bought it in preparation for one of the toughest conversations you will have in your career. Silence and avoidance are no longer options that you are willing to consider. I hope this book gets you closer to where you want to be as efficiently as possible. I hope this book helps you embrace your power and find your words.