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MBA Voices
MBA Voices
The knowledge and truth-telling of the role race has had on your own story will help you identify the systemic, individual, and internalized racism happening around you more easily, and make you more comfortable speaking up about it. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. [...]
Quote by Martin Luther King Jr.
- 19 Jun 2020
Black MBA Students Pen Letters to the HBS Community: Letter 5/5
I am numb, not because I am strong, but because I am trying to survive in a world not catered to me. [...]
White supremacy allows many of you the privilege of ignoring the harsh realities of race in America. You may not understand the protests, the anger, the frustration or the exhaustion. So, to illustrate, consider if you felt the effects of white privilege on a daily basis like many of us feel the effects of racism. Now take the feelings of inclusion, relief, safety, and gratitude and describe the opposite. Recognizing your privilege also means recognizing someone else’s oppression. [...]
If you can’t fathom how this happened, research and learn. If you don’t know how to respond, listen and reflect. If you’re not sure what to do, get proximate and donate. It’s not enough to be “not sure” when racism and white supremacist ideologies are still taking lives. [...]
This is the work we do every day. We confront and navigate the devaluation of Black life. In supportive spaces and in unsupportive ones. We deal with the privileging of white comfort, feelings, and learning. You don’t always see it. But we do. It’s constant and all consuming. The mental, emotional, and physical toll of it can be exhausting. [...]
The views and opinions expressed in the MBA Voices blog are those of the authors.
Any political views shared by students are their own; HBS does not endorse a particular party or candidate.