Janese Murray, 64, founder & president of Inclusion Impact Consulting

Oftentimes we want to move forward without embracing or even acknowledging history. Until we own up to our history of systemic racism as a city and as a nation, our ability to truly move forward is limited.

That is the reckoning that I try to bring into my work as a consultant and facilitator for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Increased awareness of systems that purposely advantage some and disadvantage others is the first step toward dismantling them. This must be followed by taking intentional actions designed to create and sustain an environment of inclusion and equity.

Systemic racism has morphed and changed over the years and it is still there, and it still impacts broader society and individual organizations.

I think we are just beginning to recognize that systemic racism exists. And there has not been an acknowledgment of that. Black people are told we are playing the race card and that slavery is over. We have never really talked about it.

For me personally, it is about calling it out, not only systemic racism, but inequities, and also to recognize that Black people as a race are not broken. We are people who have had to figure out how to live and thrive in a system that is not built for us.