In the weeks since the police killing of George Floyd, there has been something of a national reckoning in the United States on the pervasive racism that runs through American society — not just in the realm of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, but also expanding to questions about inequality in civil society, education, the workplace, and more.
Babson professor of management Tina Opie has been facilitating these kinds of conversations for a long time. She joined Greater Boston last fall to talk about her work hosting workshops through her ‘Shared Sisterhood’ program, where women of all backgrounds gather to discuss their personal experiences with race and ways to join together in combating racism.
Opie and Beth Livingston, a collaborator on Shared Sisterhood, and an assistant professor of management at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, joined Greater Boston on Wednesday to discuss the significance of the group’s work in the midst of the current moment.
“When we’re engaging in conversations about racism, it can often be challenging for some white Americans to wrestle with that, and so the idea of ‘shared sisterhood’ is, we help white women dig into their racial attitudes,” Opie said. “And then, once they’ve done that deep diving and that introspection, [they] can try to bridge with people who are different from them to try to move forward.”
“In order for us to move forward, I think all of us are going to have to be uncomfortable. The status quo is comfortable — but we see that that’s killing people,” she added.
Livingston said that from her standpoint, humility was important.
“We have to be able to say, ‘I’m okay not knowing the answer to that question,’” she said.
