The Arc of Progress.
This article is part of Finding the Words, a newsletter that delivers practical insights on the day’s issues.
Today is June 19, 2024—better known now as Juneteenth.
It has been 159 years since the last enslaved people of the U.S. South received news of emancipation and were finally set free.
It’s been just four years since the first wave of companies started recognizing the day as a paid holiday.
It’s been just three years since it became designated as a federal holiday.
And it’s been just two years since the New York Stock Exchange began observing Juneteenth as a market holiday.
In our nation’s long and storied journey toward justice, progress can feel painfully slow.
Progress can feel out of our control.
Progress can feel downright impossible.
But today, on this Juneteenth celebration, we are wonderfully reminded that progress is always possible. Bit by bit, day by day, and one action after another, we can bend that “arc of the moral universe” toward justice. Bit by bit, we can close gaps in awareness, knowledge, action, and equity.
And slowly but surely, progress can take hold.
This week, in preparing for our company’s Juneteenth observation, I revisited a conversation I had with Carolyn (Lowery) Erskine on June 18, 2020. The conversation, recorded for our Mission Forward community and now available on the podcast, provides a time capsule back into an earlier day: during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic and the height of the 2020 racial justice protests in America, as leaders across the U.S. navigated how to act and react in a time of protest, racial reckoning, and quarantine, too.
In many ways, we’re still navigating—as we will indefinitely—along a lifelong journey toward anti-racism and equity. While some days are more difficult than others, every day can be a signal of progress, a renewed commitment to progress, and a celebration of progress.
Today, as you observe and reflect on where you or your organization is in its journey toward justice, consider how these actions, inspired by my conversation with Carolyn, and many of the actions we’ve taken here at Mission Partners might inform your next steps toward equity and progress:
Statements Are Great, But Action Is Better. There is a mindset shift occurring, with many people looking outside of individual instances of racism and now seeking to understand and act upon deep-seated racism and inequities built within our systems. Beyond social postings or commitments of recent years, what actions have you taken, and what actions can you take to address and improve oppressive systems within your own organization? Have you made specific, concrete, and outcome-driven plans to address inequities? If not, why?
Acknowledge and Reflect on This Moment. Conversations about racism can be hard, but they don’t need to be intimidating. Use every conversation as a chance to learn and grow, respecting that every person has a different understanding and experience of racism. If you are a leader, push carefully beyond your own comfort zone to test and challenge what you know. Be prepared to acknowledge and learn from past harms and inequities—including those that you may have perpetuated. And consider how you might further close gaps in your own knowledge to help activate progress and advance equity in your own community.
Start Where You Are. As we are reminded today, change takes time—often more than we desire. But change is possible every day. Since it can be overwhelming to know where to start, just start right where you are. Think back to where you were in 2020, as I did in my conversation with Carolyn. Think back to what you knew, what you thought, what you did. What can you learn about yourself in that reflection? And how can you use it to propel yourself further forward? Focus on learning and growing through progress, knowing there can be celebration and joy along the way.
Keep a Practice. To help you along the journey, our team developed and actively maintains a comprehensive set of resources to support organizations and their leaders during moments of change, and as they work to bend the arc toward justice. Consider reading or watching a few today and passing along what you learn.
Bottom line: Progress can feel hard and, on some days, downright impossible. But progress is always possible, and it can be joyful. Do what you can, each and every day to learn and grow toward a better world of tomorrow.
This post is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights direct to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.
