Black Lens - March 2021

The Black Lens Spokane
www.blacklensnews.com March 2021
Page 15
Dr. Ebony Hilton Leads Call for ‘Secretary of Equity’
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National
Correspondent, @StacyBrownMedia
(Reprinted from blackpressusa.com)
An honest and comprehensive reckoning
with America’s racial history and enacting
solutions to address it is perhaps the
transcendent issue of our time, argues Janet
Murguia, the president of UnidosUS, a
D.C.-based advocacy organization.
“The path forward may be difficult, complicated,
and contested, but it is essential to
pursue,” Murguia remarked in a news release
where she and other advocates form
the Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative.
The collaborative is the foremost diverse
coalition of national, racial justice, and
civil rights organizations representing and
serving more than 53 million people in the
U.S.
The group calls on President Joe Biden to
create an office within the White House to
coordinate efforts to reduce racial inequality
in all its forms.
Shortly after his Jan. 20 swearing-in, President
Biden issued an executive order to advance
equity and support for underserved
communities.
The President had pledged to do his part in
the fight against systemic racism in America,
and his executive order charges all federal
agencies with reviewing equity in their
programs and actions.
President Biden has demanded that the Office
of Management and Budget analyze
whether federal dollars are equitably distributed
in communities of color. The coalition
argues that the new administration
also should establish a White House Office
on Racial Equity and Inclusion. The office
would coordinate the full range of federal
agency efforts to advance racial equity,
centered on the administration’s promise
to confront systemic racism and heal the
“soul of our nation.”
Murguia declared that creating such office
is “a crucial first step toward ensuring that
our country lives up to its core shared value
of equal opportunity for all Americans.”
The coalition is not alone in pushing the
Biden administration to create an office responsible
for racial equity.
Dr. Ebony Hilton, the medical director
and co-founder of GoodStock Consulting,
LLC, and an anesthesiologist and critical
care physician at the University of Virginia,
has started a change.org petition for the
Biden administration to create and appoint
a “Secretary of Equity.”
Comparable to a Chief Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion Officer of an organization,
the Secretary of Equity would serve as a
catalyst to initiate equity, diversity, and
inclusion (EDI) assessments and policies
while leveraging best practices and resources
across various federal agencies,
Dr. Hilton wrote in a letter on behalf of
GoodStock Consulting.
“The vision of the position is to use objective
information and analytics to create and
support a culture of inclusion and belonging
where individuals from all diversity dimensions,
racial and ethnic identities, ages,
nationalities, social and economic status,
sexual orientation, gender identity/expression,
religious, political and ideological
perspectives, and physical and mental abilities,
are able to thrive and be actively engaged,”
her letter continued.
Continued on Page 21