Maybe I shouldn’t tell this story. ~\_0_/~ Here goes:

Not too long ago, I got headhunted for a job that would have been a big promotion with a 30% pay hike. Would I like to apply to lead fundraising for a national org helping 100 high-achieving students of color per year to become first-gen Ivy college students? Hm. Well, tell me this. Does this white-led org have any interest in questioning how many thousands upon thousands of students of color are missing out on their potential to become so-called “high achievers” eligible for your consideration in the first place because of systemic discrimination in our schools and across their lives? And since the org is so proud of its “proven research-based model,” does it have any interest in using that research to power advocacy for systemic change so that our policymakers fulfill their obligation to “leave no child behind” as they used to say? They don’t have to become a policy org but they could partner with allies, couldn’t they? Win win, right?

They thanked me for my time.

WORTH IT.

Because yes, I’m grateful that nonprofits everywhere and the people who fund them and work in them are doing the grinding job of supporting marginalized and oppressed people to survive and even to some extent thrive within our current systems. But if we in the nonprofit sector close our eyes to those systems and ignore them, pretend they don’t exist, we are not really seeing the people we say we want to help. We’re not seeing their lives and their needs. Not seeing that *they* are ultimately not the problem that needs to be fixed.

It’s totally fine to take on those urgent day-to-day needs as your slice of the work! I spent decades doing that! But if you don’t see that it’s just a slice, then you better be satisfied with never doing as much as you could have. I guarantee you will miss crucial information that could have helped you do a better job of helping your 100.

And you are AWOL from the movement for equity and justice that you’re denying you are part of. If you think it’s not right for high-achieving children of color to be left out of the Ivies, then listen to yourself: you’re saying you care about justice. You are needed in that fight. You can keep doing your small slice for 100 kids who need help today AND learn how your work fits into the bigger long-term fight AND find your allies and partners in that fight AND make a bigger impact just by continuing to do what you do within the context of that broader network and sharper understanding. Win win, right?

Thanks for your time. Hope it was worth it.

Happy Juneteenth.