Being in Community for Racial Equity: Lessons from the Code2040 2018 Summit
By Chloe Harris
On July 27 and July 28, nearly 200 people gathered at the 2018 Code2040 Summit to find their place and voice in the work for racial equity in tech. The journey towards a more just innovation economy doesn’t exist in a vacuum. This work starts with community.
We began our Summit with a moment of silence for Nia Wilson, a young Black woman who was murdered on a BART platform in Oakland just days before the event. We know we are living in turbulent times; as hateful rhetoric and violent, racialized crimes rise at alarming rates, it can feel despairing to pursue change, especially when you’re acting in isolation. But that’s exactly what Bri Blue, a spoken word artist who performed at the event, was speaking to when she said “A flower wilts, so be trees.”
This sense of community was central in the theme of this year’s summit, the Woken Word which points to the power of language when it comes to racial equity work. Through meaningful dialogue, we create spaces where Black and Latinx individuals and their allies can gather to discuss their identity and struggles, to teach others how to be an effective ally, and to take action together to dismantle a challenge that cannot be solved by one person alone. The panels, workshops, and closing remarks took participants on a journey meant to reflect this theme. By encouraging collective healing, personal accountability, and purposeful action in confronting racism, we can say with confidence that we are excited about what our empowered, capable community can do to tackle structural racism in tech.
We dove into this work with an opening keynote panel entitled “Know Yourself: the Requisite of Racial Equity Work.” That conversation, along with other workshops such as “Freeing Ourselves and Others,” created space for everyone to discuss their unique identities as well as the challenges of living that identity wholly and freely in the face of a homogeneous tech culture. Many could relate to experiences where they felt the pressure to adapt their personalities to fit in, where they held their tongue rather than speak up about something inappropriate for fear of losing their jobs, and/or where they felt the need to “prove themselves” and show that they really belonged.
Going a step further, these conversations not only allowed people to connect over shared painful experiences, but also proceeded to encourage a sense of personal accountability. Each of us carries a unique set of experiences and privileges, but the “requisite” of racial equity work is to first understand our role in it, both as individuals affected and as changemakers.
Indeed, this sentiment was emphasized in the panel Stepping Up your Allyship Game, and in workshops such as “Allies and Accomplices” and “Toxic Masculinity.” Each of these discussions encouraged participants to not only think about their experience with these issues, but also to consider what they do about it. For example, if you’re white, how do you move beyond being kind and supportive of people of color to actually working toward reforms that improve their lives? Or, if you’re a Black man, what are you doing to support Black women? Ultimately, being an ally and an advocate means that you are constantly introspective in how you participate in this work: in the fight for racial justice, it’s important to remember that we can only meet others as far as we’ve met ourselves.
And finally, both days ended with a call to action. Underscored by workshops such as “Embrace the Change Agent Within” and “Calling on Racial Equity Warriors,” the Summit closed by reminding participants that, after finding healing and owning up to allyship, the next step is active advocacy. To truly move beyond a considerate colleague — someone who is kind and thoughtful when it comes to supporting people of color — to someone who actually leads and challenges institutional barriers, the crucial element is action. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of advocacy, whether you are a Challenger who overhauls your hiring process completely and publishing your approach to the public (like our partner Medium did), or an Active Participant who volunteers at Code2040 events, we all can step up our advocacy efforts to put external pressure on the tech industry to change its ways.
As Karla shared in her closing remarks, we fully deserve the change we are demanding, and we must be bold and united in the upcoming effort to effect true systems change. We hope that you left the Summit feeling empowered, and that you had a similar experience as Mikaela Martin, who shared her takeaways from the event on twitter. “To Code2040”, she said, “Thank you for giving me the tools to be a challenger. Thank you for reminding me that the fight shall not be done alone. Thank you for opening the door. Thank you for creating a safer space for us.”
As Code2040 is building a community dedicated to fighting for racial equity in tech, we must be a community of trees, of individuals who are fortified and unwavering in our willingness to take action toward the betterment of the other. These are disheartening times, yes. But as Shane Zackery, a valued mentor and volunteer at Code2040, put it: “I sometimes feel dismayed until I look to my left, my right, and behind me to see that I have this support network backing me up each step along the way.”
In short, we are not alone in our pursuit. We hope that you left the Summit feeling like trees. Know that we stand here, a forest, ready and excited to provide unwavering support in this fight for desegregation in tech.
