October 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 50

GLENN HARRIS

Parks & Recreation: Tell us about
Race Forward and its mission.
Glenn Harris: Race Forward is home
to the Government Alliance on Race
and Equity (GARE) (racialequity
alliance.org), a national network of
local government working to achieve
racial equity and advance opportunities for all. Race Forward publishes
the daily news site Colorlines (color
lines.com) and presents Facing Race
(facingrace.raceforward.org),
the
country's largest multiracial conference on racial justice.
[The organization] catalyzes
movement building for racial justice. We work in partnership with
communities, organizations and
sectors to build strategies that advance racial justice in policies, institutions and culture.
P&R: How have current events,
such as the murder of George
Floyd and the Black Lives Matter
protests, impacted your work?
Harris: In the days since four Minneapolis Police Department officers
killed George Floyd, hundreds of
demonstrations have broken out
around the country. Race Forward
stands in solidarity with the millions who have marched to demand
justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob
Blake and for Black lives that have
been taken prematurely by police
brutality. We join their condemnation of all forms of racist violence
- whether state or state-sanctioned
or from individuals and groups.
The uprising opens up opportunity, because it lays bare what too
many people were reluctant to see
and allows Race Forward to build
on the foundation that we had been
laying for years in working to eliminate systemic racism.
In this moment, we at Race Forward affirm with a renewed sense
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of purpose our work of catalyzing
the racial justice movement. In media, advocacy, training, research,
policy and narrative, we continue
to center communities of color that
are setting the course for a shared,
equitable future. We continue to
convene those working for racial
justice to share best practices in the
movement for equity and justice.
We continue to tell the untold stories, advance the best ideas and lift
up the leadership of communities
of color. We continue to advance
decriminalization, demilitarization
and restorative justice. We continue
to organize and lead governments
to advance racial equity.
We stand with the Movement for
Black Lives and communities of
color across the country that are
calling for divestment from police
and investment in health, education, housing, arts and culture, and
the environment. We support and
lift up the work of local Black-led
organizing on the ground.
P&R: When it comes to racial
justice, do you believe the country
has reached an inﬂection point?
Harris: Our democracy is at an inflection point. Americans face a trifecta of crises - state and vigilante
violence against Black people, a
pandemic and an economic depression. Political leadership - beginning with the White House - offers us only a toxic combination of
malign neglect and counterproductive, divisive measures.
One in 1,625 Black Americans
has died from COVID-19. One in 6
Black people is unemployed. Black
people make up only 13 percent
of the U.S. population, and yet 23
percent of those shot and killed by
police are Black.
The structures of racism that
leave Black, Indigenous people and

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people of color more vulnerable to
death than whites are being laid
bare. The social contract is broken.
Communities of color are demanding a new one that centers [on] our
health and well-being and pivots
toward life. Now is the moment to
go all in by supporting communities protesting and supporting the
institutions that can meet and implement those demands.
P&R: Why is it diﬃcult for people
to talk about racism?
Harris: Race is a complex subject in
American culture. We have [more
than] 400 years of purposeful and
systemic injustice. The challenge
for many white Americans is recognizing how they benefit from a system that they did not create - but,
nonetheless, benefit from. In addition, we don't always have a shared
understanding of racism, with some
focusing on individual acts of racism while others are thinking about
how racism is manifest in systems
and structures. Developing a shared
understanding of racial equity
makes it easier and more productive
to talk about racism.
In this moment, we need to lean
in and discuss the systemic realities
of racism in America. That means
finding truth in the uncomfortable
discussions of our history of race
and its current impact.
P&R: How does unconscious bias
impede an organization's eﬀorts
to institute anti-racist practices?
Harris: Unconscious bias plays for
all individuals and organizations.
It is the manifestation of our culture in how we see the world, and it
creates and maintains ways of operating that work better for people
who are white, male, able, middle
class and heteronormative.
We all have bias, and it is neces-

October 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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