The Groundwater Approach
An interactive presentation on the nature and impact of structural racism and what it looks like across institutions. We examine narratives around racial disproportionality and make use of compelling research data to illustrate the systemic nature of racism and the fallacy of typical explanations like poverty, education, social class, individual behavior, or cultural attributes that often get associated with particular racial groups. The Groundwater metaphor is designed to help practitioners at all levels internalize the reality that we live in a racially structured society, and that is what causes racial inequity. The metaphor is based on three observations:
- Racial inequity looks the same across systems,
- Socio-economic difference does not explain the racial inequity; and,
- Inequities are caused by systems, regardless of people’s culture or behavior.
Embracing these truths helps leaders confront the reality that all our systems, institutions, and outcomes emanate from the racial hierarchy on which the United States was built. In other words, we have a “groundwater” problem, and we need “groundwater” solutions. Starting from there, we begin to unlock transformative change.