A few weeks ago, I was on a panel with two colleagues I enjoy. It is always fun to be on a panel with smart, thoughtful, and honest colleagues. We riffed off each others answers, nodded, and every once in a while disagreed. As we were talking about public education it occurred to me we needed to have a conversation about what we need to stop doing.

Too often we think about what we can do, should do, and want to do. I’m a big fan of thinking about what we shouldn’t do and need to stop doing. People often say “dream big… what should we build if resources were available.” Those are worthy exercises. AND I’m also a proponent of thinking “What shouldn’t we do,” and “What should we stop doing?”

I’ll give some examples:

• We shouldn’t cater to white people’s desires – programmatically this might mean ending popular programs that attract and support white students or students of color with a lot of privilege
• We need to end programs if they aren’t achieving the desired racial equity outcomes
• Stop giving attention and energy to someone who isn’t inline with your racial equity agenda
• Stop funding white organizations or white people who claim to work on behalf of POCs, give directly to POCs

It is easy to allow inertia to keep us moving in ways that doesn’t align with racial equity agendas. Why stop something that is working, especially since the people who are benefitting may be the loudest and most annoying people when you stop.

It may be tempting to think, “let’s just leave it alone and start another project that will focus on our racial equity goals.” The problem is when we keep adding programs, projects, and activities without stopping what doesn’t work we end up with a sludge of stuff. A wise professor used the analogy of the weird mix of melted ice cream at the bottom of a sundae – each scoop looked great on its own, but over time they melt, and the bottom of the bowl is a sludge of ice cream that isn’t as pretty or appetizing. The ice cream sludge at the bottom often doesn’t help to advance people of color – it can feel like POCs are getting leftovers versus a truly focused experience.

Stopping

Stopping activities that aren’t working for your racial equity agenda can take a lot of time and effort. Conversations need to be had, feelings need to be dealt with and channeled, politics and political influence need to be factored in. No one likes to feel like they are losing something, especially something they are used to having, but this isn’t a reason enough to continue doing things that don’t work for people of color.  

Ways to End – Some tips

Write out, even if it just for you, why the activity you’re stopping isn’t aligned with racial equity work or goals – in other words practice this point. The more you can clearly articulate it to yourself the easier it will be when you communicate about it.

Honor the program and acknowledge the change.

Let key people know ahead of time and privately – they shouldn’t find out from a mass email or in the news. Take the time to explain why.

Be prepared for people to be upset, snarky, and to have feelings. If it is the type of program where you need to gather people to explain it in person, plan for it. I will also mention it is always good to have continuous conversations so hopefully this isn’t the first time you’re explaining program shifts, endings, etc.

Be gentle and hopeful. Change is hard, it can suck, but it also leads to new ways.

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