Message from Donna Murray-Brown, President & CEO
TRANSPARENCY
It has taken me many days to sort out my feelings and to decide if I wanted to add my voice along with the decent organizations that have done so in the past days. I found the exercise of creating “a statement” oxymoronic at best because I am a Black woman whose lived experience mirrors society’s historical hatred of Blacks amplified by recent events. The myriad of statements I have read have been encouraging, yet have been prompted by the protocols of being the “right thing to do.” Some have felt like a competition of who could be more profound or soul penetrating. I mentally and emotionally wanted no part in creating an ego-driven or protocol- inspired statement of doing the work of eradicating racism. Moreover, the burden of doing the work of understanding racism fell flat for me-is it not the work of the oppressor? I believe Black lives matter, and Black voices should be heard. To reject that notion is to deny me, my family, my friends, and my community. The pain I have felt over the last several days is not one I can quickly shake, it is a deep and raw sorrow in the depths of my soul that I haven’t even allowed myself to fully dwell. Reducing my feelings in this moment to a carefully crafted statement seemed disingenuous.REFLECTION
The last several days have forced me to take off the daily masks that I wear to do my work. What masks do I wear? The veil of politeness when I am meeting with others who believe Detroit or more accurately, Black people are responsible for the COVID-19 epidemic in Michigan, or the mask of burden when my every word and action is being evaluated because of the color of my skin. It is suffocating and tiring to wear a mask, yet it has seemed essential to my survival. It has only been in the last few days of reflection that I realized my masks have forced me to hold my breath and slowly suffocate my soul’s very existence. The very public display of the murder of George Floyd, who uttered the words that he could not breathe, continues to weigh on my consciousness.
ACTION
So, as a leader, a Black leader, of a statewide nonprofit association, how will I use my breath to lead in this moment and beyond differently than before? How will I be a buttress for other Black leaders and all leaders of color in the nonprofit sector? How will I provide a level playing field for those that are historically marginalized in my sphere of influence? How will I show up as the leader I need to be in this moment for my predominantly White staff and board? What changes do I need to instigate in our work?
I have no answers yet will be spending time not only to solve those questions but to create a plan of action. I do know this. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and countless others that have suffered the same fate, will not be vain. Inspired by the eloquent call to action by Killer Mike, I will plot, plan, strategize, organize, and mobilize. I hope you will join me. Together, we can beat racism-we just have to.
MICHIGAN NONPROFIT ASSOCIATION COMMITMENT
Michigan Nonprofit Association is fortunate to have a leader who has the grace and courage to bare her soul and speak to us from her heart. We are an organization made up of predominantly White board and staff members. This is not the exception, it’s the rule in the nonprofit sector. Only a very few organizations are led by people that reflect the communities they serve.
We all know it is time to be better and do better. But this isn’t Donna’s work. This is on us.
Nonprofits do great work and many of us believe we are good people. But what brought us to this moment? Organizations like ours are filled with people and programs that deal with symptoms, but also perpetuate the root causes. We have to challenge ourselves to ask tough questions.
- What we are willing to risk to provide a level playing field for marginalized people in the communities we serve?
- What are we willing to risk to truly build thriving communities?
- How will we intentionally choose to be anti-racist in how we do business, and more importantly, how will we support the Black community?
- How do we prioritize this in our work now?
We invite you to join us in examining ourselves - our actions and our inaction - when it comes to our circle of friends and family and within our organizations. We invite you to commit to do the work and not stop after we send this email or when the protests are over.
The time to actively work for systemic change is now.
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