Woohoo, I’m on spring break in Florida! Time for me to go wild and flash you with my three key takeaways from last month’s SPARCC webinar on Making the Case for Racial Equity with Dwayne Marsh, about how to show government officials the need for systemic change.

1. Racial equity is the business of government, not just because the Pledge of Allegiance says our government provides “justice for all” but because when some groups are locked out of the economy, we all miss out on huge opportunities for economic growth… or from a government perspective, lost tax revenue!

2. Racial equity means closing gaps so that success can’t be predicted from race, while also increasing opportunities for all. When we improve opportunities for those who are worst off, it helps everyone – more so than the reverse, when we improve opportunities for those best off and assume a rising tide will lift all boats (spoiler: it doesn’t!). Solving for root cause is the way to get to the goal for everyone.

3. “Systems will do what systems do until we change what the systems do.” People in government don’t have the intent to discriminate; they’re just following procedures that have discrimination baked in, until we are intentional about change. These are things only government can fix.

Yeah dude! Put on your bathing suit, pop a beer, and watch the whole 50-minute recording here if you love the idea of Government Gone Wild for racial equity!