Over the past three months, journalists and workers past and present brought our movements' open secrets to light, particularly the anti-Blackness and racism that workers have experienced at reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations. All of us know these allegations are true—we’ve supported friends through them, we’ve heard the stories, and we’ve grit and born it until we couldn’t anymore. Hell, they’re one of the many reasons we started ReproJobs and wanted to have conversations about racism within our workplaces.

Throughout the summer, many workers have taken huge personal risks to speak out, share their stories, and relive the pain of feeling unvalued and dismissed at work. They talked to reporters, recounting the microaggressions and outright racist experiences they survived while they dedicated themselves to the fight for reproductive liberation. They spoke out against attempts to buy their silence. They broke non-disclosure agreements because they knew workers in our movement deserves better. They told truths—on and off record—to ensure that future Black and Brown workers wouldn’t have to experience the same pain, stress, and isolation they did. To them, we owe a debt of gratitude.

And, this is not the first time this conversation has happened. There have been open letters before. We’ve all been through the supposed organizational changes, Funder-mandated anti-racism trainings that result in no change, and the promises of increased budgets to our communities while racist staff members fail upwards, unscathed. Some of us have been in the private rooms where we’ve given feedback on “what’s next” to address racism in our workplaces—even as the very people who were harmed were not invited—and watched the notes go into a folder never to be revisited. These processes serve as lip service to many who are still suffering while they still try to do the work.

It’s time for a new conversation. It’s time for a new path forward. We cannot continue in this cycle. It’s anti-Black and an insult to workers who are the core of this work. The thing is, addressing racism isn’t just our legal or moral duty —it will make our organizations and movements stronger. As several have said in their interviews: our movements are failing because our best and brightest talents are leaving; they are tired of dealing with the never-ending cycle of racism and anti-Blackness. If our movement truly wants to win reproductive liberation, we must address our own racism and anti-Blackness with the same dedication we apply to rearranging the deck chairs on the sinking USS Roe.

The principle of healing is this: when a rupture happens, a repair must follow. A heartfelt one that centers the people who were harmed—not one advised by an expensive public relations firm. For too long, people of color are expected to meet the racist microaggressions and resistance with grace and kindness. We’re expected to accept hollow apologies and hope that the people who harmed us will be held accountable. We are relegated to accepting the crumbs of budgets as reparations, while the anti-Blackness and racism in management teams and board rooms continue to fester. This cycle is burning us out one by one. Structures must change. Accountability must happen. Actions speak louder than apologies to investigating reporters.

To that end, we drafted suggestions to jumpstart a process of healing and recognition of hurt. Offending organizations, named and unnamed in the articles, should start by:

— Meaningfully apologizing privately to staff, board members, and partners who have been harmed before public statements are released. (Please take the time to google what a real apology is. It does not include the words, “if I hurt you,” for example.)
— Offering a public apology to all former staff, board members, and partners who have been harmed and committing to accountability for these actions.
— Releasing staff, board members, and partners from non-disclosure agreements related to discussing their experiences with workplace racism and other oppressions, and all coercive non-disparagement agreements.
— Changing policies to end the requirement of signing non-disparagement agreements as terms for severance payments.
— Creating systems for pay transparency, including but not limited to a salary scan to address pay inequities based on and race.
— Creating and sharing salary bands to ensure people are receiving equal pay for equal work.
— Analyzing racial disparities in hiring and firing, as well as staff positions, department head positions, department budget status, and executive leadership.
— Paying reparations and back pay to staff who were underpaid for their work based on oppression.
— Adding worker or union representation position on the board of directors to ensure board members are able to hear from staff members directly.
— Voluntarily recognizing unions and addressing outstanding union contracts.
— Ensuring Black and Brown staff are not siloed or burdened with a sole focus on constituency work, diversity work, or becoming liaisons for reproductive justice work.
— Changing policies to ensure all staff, especially staff of color, are able to take mental health days and sick days without penalty.

We know these aren’t foolproof solutions, nor will they eradicate the issues. We live in a racist, anti-Black world. And, it’s imperative that our movement—built on feminist principles that strive to achieve liberation for all—match up with the policies, behaviors, and global aspirations our organizations purport for people across the country.

Workers deserve better.

Signed,