At a Glance
Together, the Building Equitable Pathways (BEP) community of practice worked to identify the manifestations of racism and inequity, the “fruit,” and the underlying causes and drivers of inequity, the “roots.” This framework offers a similar opportunity to other practitioners and intermediaries outside of the BEP community of practice.
Understanding the Framework
Executive Summary
Building Equitable Pathways (BEP) is a community of practice working to create equitable pathway systems so that more Black and Latine youth and young people experiencing poverty can succeed in college and their future careers. BEP strives to improve the education and workforce systems so that all young people can move seamlessly and successfully from high school to college, career, and beyond. BEP focuses on the role intermediaries play in three key areas: facilitating racial equity in the design and scaling of college and career pathways, advocating for policy solutions, and building strong data and infrastructure practices. BEP aims to advance a vision for racial equity in pathways systems by implementing anti-racist practices and policies that affect the lived experiences of youth and the adults working to support them. With a deep commitment to equity at the heart of BEP, the racial equity strand participated in a learning arc exploring the fruit and the root of inequity: racism. As part of this exploration, the racial equity strand journeyed together to understand and examine five levels of racism:
- Individual/Personal Racism
- Interpersonal Racism
- Institutional Racism
- Cultural Racism
- Structural Racism
Collectively, these factors work together to maintain inequity and perpetuate white supremacy—the normalized assumption that white people are superior to others—within systems and programs. Together, the BEP community of practice worked to identify the manifestations of racism and inequity, the “fruit,” and the underlying causes and drivers of inequity, the “roots.” This framework offers a similar opportunity for other practitioners and intermediaries outside of the BEP community of practice.
About Building
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About
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About the Framework
This framework provides practitioners with an opportunity to examine the roots of inequity in their communities and develop a plan to address the identified inequities. Those who use this framework will walk through a series of activities designed to help practitioners examine the manifestations of the following levels of racism in their respective systems:
- Individual/Personal Racism
- Interpersonal Racism
- Institutional Racism
- Cultural Racism
- Structural Racism
While this framework is intended to offer a process that a practitioner can use to examine and address fruit and root causes of inequity, it is not the only framework or analysis that can be used. Practitioners are encouraged to use any similarly oriented framework that will support them in exploring root causes of inequity and developing strategies to address them.
This framework is designed for individuals who, at a minimum:
- have a personal and professional commitment to ongoing self-reflection and exploration on equity-related issues, including a commitment to exploring their own internalized beliefs
- have participated in and are comfortable participating in conversations about race, racism, or equity-related topics
- have participated in one or more equity-specific training
- are committed to exploring and developing an analysis along with strategies to address the root causes of inequity
- willingly engage in conversations and discussions about race, racism, or equity-related topics internally and externally
- have an understanding of their local context, audience, and key stakeholders in order to nuance discussions about equity and inequity accordingly
This framework will require deep personal and collective work. It will require honesty, vulnerability, and possibly discomfort. In order to prepare to do this work well, we recommend that you read this blog post and discuss how you and your team will hold space for each other while using this framework.
The Fruit and Root Analysis™
The Fruit and Root Analysis™ is a framework and process that practitioners can use to examine their systems for the manifestations of one or more of the five levels of racism. After examination, practitioners then develop strategies to address or mitigate the racism manifesting in their workforce, education, and career pathway ecosystems.
Individual/Personal Racism: Individual biases against other individuals or groups and internalized biases against one’s self based on a socially disadvantaged racial identity.
Interpersonal Racism: Interpersonal dynamics and ways individuals engage other individuals and groups of individuals who have been historically excluded by law or custom from societal benefits and resources.
Institutional Racism: Institutional policies, practices, and culture that keep people marginalized based on race or ethnicity, or perpetuate segregation and social sorting, and that elevates one race and diminishes others.
Cultural Racism: Representations, messages, and stories conveying the idea that behaviors and values associated with white people or “whiteness” are automatically “better” or more “normal” than those associated with other racially defined groups.
Structural Racism: Features of society, including systems, policies, cultural norms, and representation, that collectively operate to maintain racism and the ideology of white supremacy.
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The Fruit
These are the surface level individual manifestations and outcomes of racism. The fruit can be missing and rotten, blossoming, or fully ripe. Intermediaries can review and analyze data on racial and ethnic representation in education, workforce, and career pathways to assess the fruit representation in their own ecosystems.Missing and rotten fruit represent limited-to-no students/learners or workers of color in career pathways and occupations in a local or regional context. It’s important to note that people aren’t “rotten,” rather the lack of representation of people of color in career pathways is indicative of a rotten and exclusionary system.
Blossoming fruit represents the growing numbers of students/learners and workers of color in and moving through education and workforce systems into career pathways. While there are some blossoms, students/learners and workers are still subjected to racism in their educational, training, and work experiences.
Fully ripe fruit represents an equitable system where education, workforce, and career pathways are fully representative of all members of the community, particularly individuals who’ve been historically excluded. Fully ripe fruit represents what’s possible when the roots of inequity are removed and replaced with equitable and just roots.
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The Branches and The Fruit
The fruit and the branches represent interpersonal racism. Together, these represent the interactions between the fruit and the larger tree, which impacts individual outcomes. At the interpersonal level, beliefs, and biases held by individuals determine how they will interact or choose not to interact with others. In the context of racism, the interpersonal level is where racial microaggressions and acts of prejudice and discrimination take place. Individuals on the receiving end of discrimination are often othered and excluded, resulting in missing or rotten fruit in education, workforce, and career pathways. Conversely, where there is fully ripe fruit, individuals are aware of their bias and in the context of interpersonal relationships, individual biases, are called in or out, and harm is addressed and repaired. In this context, individuals are accountable to each other and committed to addressing racism and discrimination as it manifests.
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The Tree Trunk
The tree trunk represents institutional racism. At this level, institutional/organizational policies, practices, and culture have the potential to impact what happens at the interpersonal level (between students/teachers and workers/coworkers) while also potentially reinforcing personal and individual beliefs and biases (against people of color). The trunk sits in the middle of the soil, roots, branches, and fruit.
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The Soil
The soil represents cultural racism that lives in the soil, feeding and fueling all other parts of the tree. It can lead to a healthy tree or a rotten tree. In the context of racism, the soil “silently” influences institutional policies, practices, and cultural norms. It influences interpersonal interactions and beliefs about people of color (think stereotypes), and it reinforces the ideology of a racial hierarchy, also known as white supremacy. The soil of the tree of racism represents the stories, narratives, and cultural messaging that permeates society about white people, Black and African American people, Indigenous/Native peoples, Hispanic/Latine people, and Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, referred to broadly as “people of color” throughout this framework.
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The Roots
The roots represent structural racism. The root system is an intricate web of interlocking roots (policies, laws, regulations, institutional policies and practices, cultural messages, interpersonal behaviors) that strengthen, support, uphold, and reinforce the system of exclusion and oppression. The deeper the roots, the older the tree, the stronger the hold.
Disrupting, interrupting, and uprooting the system of racism requires an analysis of the system’s roots, understanding how and where they intersect and how and where they uphold one another, and following a path to untangling and uprooting the entire system.
Using the Framework
Part 1: Developing an Analysis (Activity 1 and 2) supports individuals and teams in applying their critical thinking skills to developing a Fruit and Root Analysis™. After you’ve completed Part 1: Developing an Analysis, complete Part 2: Examining the Levels of Racism (Activities 3 - 7).
NOTE: This framework will require deep personal and collective work. It will require honesty, vulnerability, and possibly discomfort. In order to prepare to do this work well, we recommend that you read this blog post and discuss how you and your team will hold space for each other while using this framework.
Applying Learnings
Example scenarios and case studies are helpful ways for practitioners to continue to examine their systems for manifestations of racism beyond their initial analysis and action planning. The BEP community, and specifically the racial equity strand, used a variety of scenarios and case studies to increase their awareness and develop comfort in discussing instances of racism in their work, organization, and ecosystem.
Below are five case studies and scenarios that teams can use internally or externally to refine their skills and deepen their equity practices.
NOTE: This framework will require deep personal and collective work. It will require honesty, vulnerability, and possibly discomfort. In order to prepare to do this work well, we recommend that you read this blog post and discuss how you and your team will hold space for each other while using this framework.
Call to Action
Working towards equity as an individual practice, institutional practice, societal practice, and societal goal requires a commitment to addressing the root causes of inequity. It requires intentional time, focus, and commitment to being comfortable with discomfort. The career and education systems in America are deeply intertwined with systems of racism, and in order to be reimagined/redesigned to work for all rather than some, practitioners must develop the skills to first identify manifestations of racism and then develop strategies to address them. Without the ability to identify racism, uprooting racism will be impossible, therefore the goal of equity will remain elusive.
The questions outlined in the framework are meant to be a starting point for examination and analysis. They are not an exhaustive list, nor is it an exhaustive process. Ongoing work at the individual, team, and organizational levels will be required. In the appendix below, additional tools are provided to support ongoing examination and practical application.
The BEP initiative is wrapping up its formal programming, but the work is not finished. We’re not even close. There are persisting inequities in education to career pathways that continue to disproportionately impact college and career outcomes for Black and Latine youth and young people experiencing poverty.
Looking to the work ahead, we propose five actions that intermediary organizations can take to center racial equity in pathways systems:
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1. Work at all levels of racism
In order to address inequity and realize the promise of racial equity, intermediaries must address the root causes of inequity, committing to work at all levels of racism. Each activity in this framework supports intermediaries in identifying the ways that they can work at all levels of racism.
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2. Develop a structural race analysis
Develop an understanding of the public policies, systems, institutions, and cultural messaging upholding racial inequities. A structural race analysis pays specific attention to three interlinking dynamics: political, social, and economic contexts. The structural racism worksheet is specifically designed to help intermediaries develop a structural race analysis.
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3. Understand the fruits and roots of racism
The fruit equals the manifestations of racism or the impact of racism on education and career pathways, which can mean a lack of racial diversity in career pathways. It can also mean mistreatment of workers and learners of color in education and career systems. The root equals the underlying, deeply rooted challenges that foster and uphold racism and inequity in institutions, systems, and society. Conversely, a tree with fully ripe fruit represents the realization of equity in education, work, and career pathways. Understanding the fruits and roots of racism can lead to systemic, long-term, and transformative changes in the education, work, and career pathways systems. Each activity in the framework supports the development of this analysis and equips intermediaries and practitioners with the skills needed to identify the fruit and roots of racism.
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4. Commit to narrative change work
One of the ways that racism is perpetuated in society is through stories and narratives about people and communities. These stories and narratives shape and inform individual beliefs, interpersonal interactions, institutional policies, and public policies that govern society. Stories and narratives about learners and workers of color are particularly harmful because they often create or reinforce negative stereotypes about people of color. To realize the potential of racial equity, intermediaries must commit to explicit narrative change work in education and career pathways, using asset-based language, addressing harmful narratives used by partners or colleagues, and developing a narrative change strategy as a core part of their work. Activity #6 in this framework is designed to support intermediaries in developing the skills needed to address cultural racism in their ecosystem.
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5. Work in partnership
Racial equity is a societal goal, one that is only accomplished in partnership with like-minded people and organizations. It is not possible to achieve racial equity without relationships, community, and all ecosystem partners. Intermediaries must identify their allies in the work of racial equity, and they must be allies in the work of racial equity. Activity #2 in this framework can help intermediaries identify the right partners to advance the work of racial equity.
Appendix
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Definitions
NOTE: These definitions were used by the BEP community and specifically by the Racial Equity strand during their work together. They do not represent a comprehensive list of all the terms and concepts related to racism and equity. Rather, they represent a list of key terms and concepts that were discussed throughout the community’s work together as a way to develop shared language.
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Additional Reports & Frameworks
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BEP Racial Equity Strand Blogs
Identifying the ‘Fruit and Root’ of Systemic Racial Inequity
Putting ‘Fruit and Root’ Analysis of Racism to Work
Intermediaries Must Disrupt Institutional Racism From the Inside Out
Using Systems Change Strategies to Address Structural Racism
Telling the Right Stories: How Narratives Can Change Community College
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BEP Podcast Episodes