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Anti-Wokeness Is All The Rage. It's Time To Push Back. [1]
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Date: 2023-03-16
There have been comments from conservative politicians and media that Silicon Valley Bank failed last week because it was a "woke" bank. The implication here is that because the bank theoretically focused so much time, energy and resources on issues such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that they failed to pay attention to the nuts and bolts of managing a bank.
If Silicon Valley Bank did spend a lot of time and resources on building a more diverse organization, it did not manifest in either a diverse board or diverse senior leadership team from a race and ethnicity perspective. In fact, the senior leadership team was entirely white and the board was 92% white. There is, of course, compelling research from outfits like McKinsey that companies with racially diverse leadership teams tend to outperform peer companies with lower levels of diversity. I don't accept the argument that Silicon Valley Bank was a particularly "woke" bank.
It is also amusing that most detractors of "wokeness" can barely define or articulate what it means. I'm happy to declare that I try to be "woke" as possible rather than asleep or indifferent.
What does it mean to be woke? Here is my perspective:
It means being respectful and compassionate to others who are different from you whether it be on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, education, religious beliefs, world view or other identifiers.
It means that you respect and protect our environment which is the source of our wealth, health and well-being.
It means that you understand our legacy of the nation's enslavement of peoples with origins in Africa and the genocide of native peoples and the need for justice, reconciliation and reparation.
It means that you understand that institutional and structural racism exists and prevents our country from reaching its full potential knowing that we will be a majority minority country in twenty to thirty years.
It means that you understand we are experiencing a rise of autocracy and autocrats in this country and that our democracy is in peril.
It means that you understand that the loss of reproductive healthcare services for women will lead to more harm to women and will lead to the loss of rights for other marginalized identities including LGBTQ+ individuals.
It means you know that the gun lobby and merchants of death continue to fight against common sense gun reform and that a nation trembles in fear to learn when the next mass shooting event will take place. Who dies next?
It means that you believe that all labor is valuable and that employers should pay a living wage, provide paid sick leave and paid family leave.
It means that you believe that housing is a human right and that homelessness is unacceptable in the wealthiest nation on the planet.
It means that you believe that the climate crisis is an existential threat to life on earth and one acts accordingly.
It means that being kind, thoughtful, generous, gracious and tender with others is an important trait and we should foster this kind of culture everywhere.
Not a complete list but you get the idea.
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