MY REFLECTIONS
By Mike Dominowski, Director of Community Affairs, Thrivent
I am humbled that my partners at the Center for Economic Inclusion would ask for my reflections on the events of this past year following Mr. Floyd’s murder.
As a white man, it important to me that I note that my perspectives on racial equity are limited to my own lived experience and what I have learned from my friends, neighbors, and colleagues who have courageously dedicated themselves to guiding me (and so many others) toward greater empathy and understanding.
Since moving to Minnesota 25 years ago from Michigan, I learned to appreciate our state as a special place. It is my adopted home. In recent years, I learned about the unsettling history when policies, business practices, and apathy led to racial covenants, red-lining, and disinvested schools, and about important moments in our past that foreshadowed the racially inequitable state that we now live in.
The past 12 months have brought to life the faces and stories of those who experience the indignity and brutality of racism. I’ve experienced anger, sadness, and shame along this journey. I’ve also been given a sense of purpose to do my part as a Minneapolis resident, father, and community partner.
As I consider the past year for our communities, I believe Minnesota has made important initial steps toward a more inclusive state and economy. Business leaders, policy makers, and social-sector leaders are changing the conversation to talk openly about entrenched racial inequities and pledging to address the long-term effects of racism in systems and institutions. I am proud of the commitment by Thrivent CEO Terry Rasmussen to listen, learn, and respond to the effects of racism within our organization, business, and communities.
Minnesota also experienced an unprecedented level of collaboration among cross-sector stakeholders. New coalitions like the Minnesota Business Coalition for Racial Equity, Philanthropic Collective to Combat Anti-Blackness & Realize Racial Justice, and Alliance of Alliances are building critical infrastructure with the potential to disrupt the status quo and normalize racial equity as a shared goal. Many employers, corporations, and foundations also increased their investments to fund these institutions and other organizations that seek to center the voices of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian Minnesotans.
Now, the hard part begins. Can we maintain the momentum to permanently invest in a new core of leaders and institutions that will build a new legacy for our state? Do we have the fortitude to learn how our own policies and practices are contributing to racial inequities and chart a new course within our own organizations? Will we be humble enough to shift our lens for learning outside of our four walls to people, places, and organizations with lived experience?
Future generations will judge us for what we do in this moment. We have an opportunity to write a new history. I hope we respond to the call.
ABOUT THE REFLECTIONS CAMPAIGN
After a year of reckoning with the ravages of racism in our schools, businesses, neighborhoods, and halls of justice, we see clearly that racism is deeply woven into every fiber of our society and that the consequences have touched each person in America. We see the depths of division and racism and the imperative to work in new ways to address very old problems.
The Center for Economic Inclusion invited leaders at all levels and from across sectors to share their reflections of the past year; several members of the Center’s staff have also participated. We wanted to learn how they have reckoned with racism over the past year; what is different in the places where they live, work, and play; what they think the the future holds; and what they think it will take to reimagine and build an economy that truly works for everyone.
We thank the leaders who answered our call to participate in this campaign. All week long, we will share their powerful reflections, in their own words.
> To engage with our entire Reckoning to Rise Together series, click here.