Zeke Smith: A path forward: Creating an equitable community together
March marks a one-year anniversary of when all of our lives were changed significantly. During this Year of the pandemic, events have opened many eyes to the stark inequities impacting human lives that exist locally and nationally. It was a year when many diverse voices united to call out injustice and to rightfully demand equity. Today we stand at a crossroads. Do we as a community continue to follow the same path we’ve been on for centuries or do we unite to forge a new path forward that puts into action the lessons learned throughout this pandemic, coming together to change systems and institutions to work for all of us, and creating a community in which each life is celebrated?
True transformative change begins with accepting the reality that race continues to play a fundamental role in who our systems work for and who they don’t. This concept is supported by critical race theory (CRT), which starts with the assumption that race is a social construct based not on biological differences that define or limit our potential, but rather that race has been codified and lifted up by our systems and institutions as a way to benefit some people (white people) over others (non-white people). Many people disagree with how much this affects us today, but CRT is supported by overwhelming historical evidence borne out time and again in policies and practices throughout our country’s history and present.
CRT was initially conceived by the legal scholar Derrick Bell in the 1980s as a critique of the American legal system that he asserted was built on racist laws that reinforce each other and deepen the stratification of who has access to power, money and resources. Well-known examples include defining slaves of African descent as equivalent to ⅗s of other people, the determination that American Indian and Alaskan Native tribes had no right to their lands or to even exist as a people, and the designation of Caucasian as a defining characteristic of who can own land in specific communities. These are not just stories of the past, as laws prioritizing white citizens remain in local real estate covenants, city charters, and state constitutions across the country. It is true that most of these laws are no longer observed, but they act as a beacon fire pointing us to look deeper at the systems we operate in, considering where else laws, policies, and practices are designed to benefit those who already have access to the most power, resources, and wealth.
When critics focus on CRT as a dividing tactic, they are missing the reality that it gives us a frame for better understanding how our current systems still don’t deliver on the promise our country was built on – that all of us should have equitable access to healthy and thriving families and communities. While the founders of this country did not treat all people and communities as equal, they had a vision that we could do better. Our democracy works because it is an adapting republic. It is in the striving for a more perfect union that we find our best selves. It works because those who are not in the majority have the right and opportunity to name what doesn’t work in our systems and to provide solutions for how to address this.
That is the opportunity that critical race theory represents – it gives communities not in power a lens for observing existing systems, identifying how they are specifically unjust in their operation, and providing an alternate solution that might level the playing field. The true vision of Bell and others who have continued to build on his definition of CRT is that we might have legal, political, social, health, education and economic systems that truly are equitable for each and every one of us. By working together across communities and identities, we can actually expand the power, resources and wealth available to all of us. It does not have to be a zero-sum game in which there are winners and losers.
What if we looked for opportunities to bring communities together? What if we sought both truth in our understanding of the limitations of our government systems and for common ground in solutions that can lift each of us up? What if we worked to build strength in our diversity and in our belief we are better together? The Inland Northwest can be better together.
Zeke Smith is president of Empire Health Foundation, a Spokane-based nonprofit serving seven counties in Eastern Washington. EHF is committed to advancing health equity through collaborative partnerships that transform systems to improve health and quality of life for all people across the region.