The first step of addressing racial disparities at a local level is to get some basic terms right.
This is according to Leon Andrews, the director of the National League of Cities’ Race, Equity, and Leadership (REAL) initiative. Andrews has been working with REAL to help local leaders undo structural racism since protests in Ferguson, Mo. in 2015 brought national attention to police brutality.
Andrews joined the Municipal Voice, a co-production between the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and WNHH FM, to talk about what he’s learned in the years since.
“I think the equity, equality piece is one that is so important to understand at the foundational level because people tend to use those words interchangeably,” Andrews said. “At the very high level, equality means giving everyone the same thing. Equity means giving people what they need.”
Andrews drew on the metaphor of three people behind a fence watching a game, each with a disproportionate disadvantage. He said that one has to “think differently about what they need to watch the game.”
Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire
So for local leaders, when they begin to process racism, they can’t process it in the individual sense. There are “policies, practices, and procedures that have actually benefited white people over people of color, sometimes intentionally or inadvertently,” Andrews explained.
Housing policies like redlining are part of this larger institutional racism, he said.
“Whether we’re talking about housing, whether we’re talking about health, … education, criminal justice, unemployment rates, or deaths from coronavirus, race is still the number one predictor [of success in this country],” Andrews said.
One of the ways to change this is through targeted universalism, Andrews said. The idea is that focusing efforts in one area benefits everyone. Curb cuts mandated through the Americans with Disabilities Act were intended to help people with wheelchairs, but they ended up benefitting people walking with strollers and suitcases too.
What ending racial disparities means depends on the town or city, because each is so different. Andrews argued that no one city or town or village has reached the goalposts yet.
“Ultimately, the measure of we’ve succeeded is how we close the gaps, where race is no longer predicting one’s success.”
Andrews said that he has hope for the future but he understands those who do not. Challenges and tensions can arise on any given day.
“But what I like about this work that we do with city leaders is it’s not just about morally this is a good thing to do. Racial equity is about good governance.”
