June 30, 2023
This road of restoration has been long, but we have now arrived at the final act of repair.
“You don’t repair that relationship by sitting down and talking about trust or making promises. Actually, what rebuilds it is living it and doing things differently – and I think that is what is going to make the difference.” ~ Patricia Hewitt
Closure requires acknowledgement on the part of those harmed that they have received satisfactory acts of reparations from their perpetrators for the specific harm acknowledged. To be clear, the overall issues of anti-Black racism in AFP and in the charitable sector are NOT closed. This is exclusively closure on the specific harm of anti-Black racism outlined in the lecture, Us and Them: What It Really Means to Belong and in episode 6 of The Giving Black Podcasts.
Reparations for us are found in our four calls to action:
- An unreserved apology from Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP Global) for the harm caused to us
- Removal of Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Toronto Chapter 10-star designation by AFP Global
- Revocation/return of the AFP GTC Fundraising award given to Caroline Riseboro
- Acknowledgement from us that the above indeed forms satisfactory restitution and reconciliation for the harm caused.
Since 2019, we have sought acknowledgement of our harm and this has now been satisfied through an apology by AFP Global. Through Mike’s Monday Message, and the announcement from AFP GTC this week, we are now satisfied that AFP has met these four calls to action and we have no reason to request anything further unless new acts of injustice occur.
In February of this year, we sought restitution in the form of recovering awards of merit. This week the award that was received by the person who led the board during the currency of our struggle has been returned. As well, the performance awards/designations received by AFP Toronto chapter have also now been rescinded. These were crucial steps that led us to this moment of restoration.
However, some practical realities must be considered to successfully achieve belonging and greater safety for Black people. There must be a genuine acknowledgement that Black people are part of the fabric of the charitable sector. We have a right to participate, contribute and lead. True belonging celebrates people’s authenticity and wholeness. It is from this place that we should work in parity side-by-side toward a common purpose.
By way of background, the former AFP GTC board was looking to change things through the passive process of inviting diverse people to the table. What this did in effect is tokenize the people of colour. Change is not passive. Neither is creating belonging passive. Creating a belonging environment is an active process. This sometimes takes the form of conflict. Were the board to have recognized this necessary and natural process they might not have resisted the change our voices were expressing. We were advocating a path to true belonging.
There’s no greater need that people have than the need to belong. As humans our desire to belong is as strong as our need to be loved. And so our need to belong will always be central to the relationships we build at home, in the community and in our places of work.
For many of us, this need to belong extends to our infinite capacity to be generous and to give of ourselves to others. That was the driver for the three of us to join AFP GTC. Not a desire to be seen and esteemed but to humbly serve our fundraising community with the inherent assets we possess: mind, body, and soul.
The three of us entered into the board environment with good intentions of contributing our thought leadership and our lived experiences as Black fundraisers. However, our Board colleagues were skeptical, distrusting, and perhaps even fearful of our participation as equals. What was demanded of us was to be present in body for the sake of diversity optics but absent in spirit and in the expressions of our minds.
When we spoke up about the acts of discrimination we experienced, we were humiliated and threatened with exclusion and legal repercussions, which ultimately led to our principled decision to resign from the AFP GTC board in 2019.
Our journey for an unbridled apology has taken almost four years. It came not as a result of self-reflection within AFP Global and the movement in general, but by a brave few who stood with us and grew to pressure AFP. The rising movement for racial justice, accountability, and transparency echoes the essence of belonging, community and togetherness. Attributes which we have sought from the very beginning of our protest.
Now that closure is being fulfilled, we look forward to AFP honouring the experiences and contributions of Black people. We look forward to how a re-envisaged organization in GTC will be actualized. We anticipate the cultivation of belonging spaces, not solely for ourselves but for all those who have felt excluded, marginalized, ignored or mistreated by people within the very body whose purpose it is to protect and represent them.
Our gratitude to all those faithful activists, co-conspirators and AFP chapters that spoke out, stood up and petitioned. By making our collective voices heard, we have shown that we each have the power to change our Association, our communities, and our places of work for the better. We have been fearless, brave and principled so that equity and justice may be achieved for the many by the many!
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” ~ Former President Barack Obama
In Solidarity,
Nneka Allen, Múthoní Karíukí & Mide Akerewusi