NCLM Southern City Volume 71, Issue 3, 2021

NCLM.ORG 13 Harris, formed in summer 2020 after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent social reactions to address the conversation of racial equity and establish realistic conclusions about the roles of municipalities. “How city leaders can impact racial equity in communities,” said Vickie Miller, Director of Learning and Development at the League and a facilitator of DIRECT, speaking about the focus of the task force. “They also looked at historical data and the impact of wealth inequality and the role that systemic racism plays in all that as well.” Which prompts the distinction between equality and equity. “The difference between racial equity and other ways of looking at equal society is that equality by its definition means ’same- ness’—everyone is on the same level, everyone is starting from the same place, and that history and other circumstances have no role in that,” explained Miller. “And that has led to, particularly from a municipal standpoint … that policies and processes at the municipal level … actually may have caused harm or may be caus- ing harm because everyone is not starting from the same place. History has had an impact on circumstances, particularly around race, unfortunately.” Conversations of “equity” recognize the gulf in starting points, “Taking into account history, taking into account the circumstances that people in marginalized groups have experienced and how they’ve been impacted,” Miller said. “And identifying that and understanding that and looking at potential ways of directing resources and opportunities in a targeted way, so that that can be level. Until we understand that it does have an impact, we cannot have an equal society as our Constitution has set out.” Winston-Salem city council member Jeff MacIntosh has partici- pated in the Task force’s efforts, which served as the foundation for DIRECT’s subject matter. “There were times when it was very uncomfortable. But the reason I think it works so well is that right up front we were told it was going to be uncomfortable. And we were told the reasons why it was important for us to work through that discomfort, to be able to actually hear things and say things that we don’t feel comfort- able doing on a day to day basis. But we were in a group where we all felt it was a safe place.” For MacIntosh, one of the most relevant points was that his com- munity, like any, is talking about race, whether its council is or not. “It’s important to have these conversations now. So as an elected official, you need to hear what people are actually thinking, and you need to hear it before it’s in a confrontational setting.” He emphasized, “Even if you think it doesn’t exist in your com- munity, it does. Put yourself in the position of being concerned without being defensive.” DIRECT, in its education for elected officials, is data-backed, entirely based on historical events and numbers related to wealth, housing and access, with comparison points and informed conclusions. “We’ve identified that the issues that city and town leaders are experiencing, whether or not they’re within their control, are show- ing up in our communities and have real impactful consequences. And we want our leaders to have a base understanding of that is the case, that is not by accident, that there usually is a historical basis for that.” Put into an analogy, the equity discussion could be set in a game of Monopoly. Three players begin the game and begin buying up properties, utilities, and railroads. Late into the game, a new player joins—a scenario of inequity, with the latter-admitted player not able to compete in the development of wealth. Traveling the difficult discussion of race in America, incidentally but for related reasons, may also lend to better dialogue on other, historically difficult issues, or to new challenges ahead. “If we can normalize our approach to how we talk about race, so we can get to some really transformative change that impacts cities and towns, that would be great,” said Miller. Find more information about DIRECT at www.nclm.org/Pages/ Consulting/DIRECT.aspx. The topic of racial equity is very personal . Every person’s belief is founded upon our personal experiences and our education, where we’re from, what we’ve seen and witnessed, who we know. There are so many components of this and it does become a very personal matter. And we’re asking people to rethink the way that they perceive equity, and are equitable . » Jennifer Robinson , NCLM Immediate Past President, Cary Council Member League Update