June 9, 2015
Kellogg Foundation Vows to ‘Be Real’ About Racism in America
Organization has tripled spending to dismantle ‘racial hierarchy’
By Hazel Trice Edney
T-Dubb-O, a Hip-Hop artist and director of Ferguson's Hands Up United sits on "America Healing" platform alongside
Marc Morial, president/CEO of the National Urban League. PHOTO: The Kellogg Foundation
Gail Christopher, vice president for policy and senior advisor, W. K. Kellogg Foundation PHOTO: Kellogg Foundation
Kellogg Foundation President/CEO La June Montgomery Tabron PHOTO: Kellogg Foundation
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A $75 million initiative launched five years ago to help address and end “the devastating impact of racial inequities on communities across the country” has now mounted to more than three times that much and organizers say there’s no end in sight.
Gail Christopher, vice president for policy and senior advisor at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, who envisioned and continues to lead the "America Healing" mission, now acknowledges that there is much more work to be done. The challenge, she says, is deconstructing the entrenched racism in America that has been built and maintained with billions of dollars.
“We have to be real,” Christopher told the Trice Edney News Wire at the close of Kellogg’s recent “America Healing” conference, attended by hundreds in Asheville, N.C. “Do you see the billions of dollars that racism has built? Racism built this country...You’re talking centuries of commitment to maintaining racial hierarchy. And so, that’s no money in terms of what it will take to heal. When I say heal, I mean the way that we think about each other and the way we think about our nation.”
Among the richest foundations in the world, W. K. Kellogg has so far spent more than $289 million on “America Healing”, of which $25 million was spent on similar efforts in Brazil. The strategy includes the financial support of more than 500 national and community-based organizations with racial fairness and equity as their daily goals.
The “America Healing” mission has grown so large, that Kellogg no longer wants to refer to it as an “initiative”, a word that means an introductory act or the first in a series of actions.
“We don’t talk in initiatives anymore. We talk of generations. We talk in dual generations and inter-generations,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, Kellogg's president and chief executive officer. Tabron’s closing speech to the audience after the three-day conference left no doubt that the organization is now leading a massive effort to infiltrate racism in America such that a lasting consciousness will occur.
“Will this America Healing continue? Of course. It’s in our DNA,” Tabron said. “We’re going to go back and think real hard about how we scale this concept of healing in most productive ways that’s embedded in everything that we do and in everything that you all do. We have some serious work to do and some very important decisions to make. This is going to take a lot of courage.”
At the semi-annual gathering early last month, principals of the funded organizations shared perspectives and information through forums, panel discussions and small groups. This year, more than 500 advocates, scholars and civil rights leaders participated in the activities. From the beginning, they have included leaders of major organizations such as the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
Though the funded organizations are racially and culturally diverse, they are all focused on dealing with some aspect of racial bias. The focus is largely on transforming attitudes of bias by people who make decisions that affect other people, such as employers, teachers, police officers, policy makers and doctors.
Kellogg’s decision to extend funding for “America Healing” coincides with what often appears to be intensifying racial disparities and issues that reveal growing racial divides and tensions. Institutional and structural racism; the immigration debate; racial profiling and unconscious biases; racial disparities in education, voting rights, mortality rates, health, health care, housing, economics, unemployment and criminal justice are among the string of issues that have been discussed at the conference.
For the past four years, unarmed African-Americans being killed by police and others has been the primary race issue dominating the national media, sparking largely youth-led marches and protests in cities across the country. May’s conference included a mixture of youth leaders among seasoned civil rights leaders.
“That’s who’s out there in the streets and it’s who was out there in the streets 50 years ago,” says Christopher. “I’m happy that we’re able to support people who have been on the front lines doing this work. But, I’m most excited that the community is so broad and so diverse understanding that it’s all of our work.”
The protests against police misconduct and the killing of unarmed African-Americans have been among the greatest indicators that the racial climate in America remains toxic. But, just like during the civil rights movement, it's largely been college age people leading those battles for justice.
“The fact that they have to make that fight means that we haven’t done enough,” Christopher said. “That they are fighting the fight today that should have been won means we haven’t done enough. And so it was very important to bring those voices here and also to nurture and support them in their work so that they understand that we can do this together. There’s a role for us. There’s a role for you. But we’re not going to be silent and watch you die.”
The primary focus of the 85-year-old Kellogg Foundation is the well-being of children, which is largely the reason that race healing has become a primary goal. The theme for this year’s conference was “All Children Must Thrive”.
According to Kellogg, “Children of color are over-represented among the 29 million low-income children and families in this country, particularly among families living in concentrated poverty. According to data from the National Center for Children in Poverty, about 61 percent of African American, 62 percent of Latino, 57 percent of Native American, 58 percent of children with immigrant parents, 30 percent of Asian American children and 26 percent of White children live in low-income families.”
“So the foundation’s commitment to it is comprehensive and fully integrated”, Christopher said. “And under La June’s leadership, it’s going to go on.”
Describing Christopher as one of “the most courageous leaders in this country,” Tabron was clear about Kellogg’s direction. “This is going to take a lot of courage. It’s going to take risk-taking and it’s going to take love.”
Christopher said Kellogg’s dream is now "to expand the work to other foundations to help launch a global fund for racial healing.” She concluded, “I wish this was 10 times bigger.”
