Racial Justice at Work Practical Solutions for Systemic Change

Creating justice-centered organizations is the next frontier in DEI. This book shows how to go beyond compliance to address harm, share power, and create equity.

Traditional DEI work has not succeeded at dismantling systems that perpetuate harm and exclude BIPOC groups. Proponents of DEI have put too much focus on HR solutions, such as increasing representation, and not enough emphasis on changing the deeper organizational systems that perpetuate inequities—in other words, on justice. DEIJ work diverges from traditional metrics-driven DEI work and requires a new approach to effectively dismantle power structures.

This thought-provoking, solutions-oriented book offers strategic advice on how to adopt a justice mindset, anticipate and address resistance, shift power dynamics, and create a psychologically safe organizational culture. Individual chapters provide pragmatic how-to guides to implementing justice-centered practices in recruitment and hiring, data collection and analysis, learning and development, marketing and advertising, procurement, philanthropy, and more.

DEIJ pioneer Mary-Frances Winters and her coauthors address some of the most significant aspects of adding a justice focus to diversity work, showing how to create a workplace culture where equity is not a checklist of performative actions but a lived reality.

Mary-Frances Winters is the founder and president of the Winters Group Inc. She has been helping clients create inclusive environments for more than three decades. She was named a top ten diversity trailblazer by Forbes and a diversity pioneer by Profiles in Diversity Journal, and she is the recipient of the prestigious ATHENA Award as well as the Winds of Change Award conferred by the Forum on Workplace Inclusion. Winters is also the author of We Can’t Talk about That at Work, Inclusive Conversations, and Black Fatigue.
 
 

Introduction: It’s about Correcting Harm, Mary-Frances Winters
Part I: Reimaging Justice in the Workplace
1.    Defining Justice, Mary-Frances Winters
2.    The Minimization, Weaponization, and Demonization of Racial Justice Concepts, Mary-Frances Winters
3.    Operationalizing Justice: A Radical Shift in Consciousness, Leigh Morrison
4.    The Leadership Imperative, Mary-Frances Winters
5.    A Developmental Approach to Racial Justice, Dr. Terrance Harewood
6.    Anticipating Resistance, Kevin Carter
7.    Addressing Resistance, Kevin Carter
8.    Neutrality Isn’t Neutral: Whose Values Do We Value in the Workplace?, Thamara Subramanian
Part II: Actualizing Justice in the Workplace
9.    Employees Can’t Be Safe Until They Feel Safe, Scott Ferry
10. Closed Mouths Don’t Get Justice, Katelyn Peterson
11.Accountability through Restorative Dialogue, Rochelle Younan-Montgomery
12.The Problem with “Professionalism,” Tami Jackson
13.Allyship Is for All, Scott Ferry
14.The Problem with DEIJ Data, Mary-Frances Winters
15.Make a Difference with Your DEIJ Data: A Four-Step Process, Thamara Subramanian
16.How to Make Reparations a Reality Now, Leigh Morrison and Tami Jackson
17.Recruiting, Hiring, and Other HR Practices for Racial Justice, Gabrielle Gayagoy Gonzalez
18. Disrupting What It Means to Be a Productive and Healthy Workplace, Thamara Subramanian
19.A Racial Justice–Centered Approach to Learning and Development, Leigh Morrison
20.Justice in Procurement, Mareisha N. Reese
21.Automating Bias, Megan Ellinghausen
22.Disrupting the Racist Narrative in Marketing and Advertising, Dr. Megan Larson
23.Justice in Philanthropy, Mary-Frances Winters
Conclusion: Radical Change, Mary-Frances Winters