Government Relations Must Evolve: Our Humanity is at Stake

This past July, we hosted the first ever summit on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the government relations sector. Over a three week-period, we spent time tapping into our humanity as a government relations community, dissecting constructs and having critical conversations about race, privilege, a lack of diversity on and off the Hill, and other salient issues impacting our domain and society at large. This was in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery. The timing could not have been more important.

However, there are rising murmurs that we already fatigued and are starting to lose our momentum.

As a community, we have had conversations for years about the lack of diversity in government relations — captured through news articles, critical work led by diverse affinity groups on and off the Hill, efforts in the Houseand the Senate, and research showing in raw data that diversity is considerably lacking amongst the top decision-makers in our Nation’s Capital.

This begs the question: Why haven’t we done more to right-size this issue? There hasn’t been a moment in recent memory where the opportunity to make corrections has been so profound — so pronounced. We cannot let this moment drift. We must evolve — and we must evolve now.

Many of us are learning for the first time that systemic racism is not a figment of our imaginations, and unbeknown to us — we’ve been perpetuating it. In order to evolve as a field, we must all come to terms with its existence before we can do anything to eradicate it.

Systemic racism and other systems of oppression impact every system of our democracy — from housing policy to healthcare policy. These systems are embedded in everything we do. The preponderance of data and research is indisputable, in spite of attempts to thwart modern scholarly interpretations of these events — even those coming out of the executive branch.

As policy professionals, we cannot run from this reality since our influence sits at the forefront of every system that affects American governance. We can’t sit in ignorance anymore pretending these systems don’t exist and that we can wish them away. The veil has been lifted.

For those of us who have reached the point of enlightenment, we must prioritize understanding how these systems impact our day-to-day policymaking efforts, our recruitment and retention practices, and our business “growth” models, in order to overhaul them and reverse course.

So, where do we begin? Clearly this is not a quick fix. What has been enmeshed in our DNA will take years of recompense to reverse. The solutions are multi-faceted and multi-layered. Reversing course will require an incredible amount of emotional labor, sweat equity, intentionality, and emotionally intelligent leadership — particularly among those in power.

Here are some immediate actions we all can take.

First, enter the conversation with humility. Recognize that we are all on a learning journey and that no one person or organization is the arbiter of truth. We must take the time to listen to all perspectives, reflect on facts and history, and make our own judgments. But we can’t do that if we don’t first recognize the privileges we hold and enter these conversations with humility and transparency.

Second, initiate or join a crucial conversation on race, oppression, bias, privilege, etc. and identify where and how you show up within these constructs. Many reject the need for equity and unequivocally state systemic racism no longer exists, but how can you intelligently refute what you do not know and are unwilling to explore?

Third, make sure any conversation you’re a part of leads to solutions, rather than an endless list of problems. A “woe-is-me” approach that leads you and your organization nowhere is counterproductive and will stymie efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Fourth, see the good in humanity. Just like systems of oppression exist in our historical record, so do records of conscious efforts to uplift people for the sake of humanity. Let’s avoid focusing solely on the former that we neglect the latter.

All-White and predominantly-White lobbying firms, policy non-profits, and think tanks should no longer exist in our sector when forty-two percent of the population is non-White. And the argument that talent among communities of color is hard to find or does not exist is mythical. It is time for organizations to go outside of their traditional networks to secure talent. Having staff from diverse backgrounds helps to subvert the unintended consequence of policies that perpetuate systemic racism. Staff from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds have a lived experience that can positively impact policy in ways that you will not achieve sans diversity.

Hope is on the horizon. The law community has taken an active stance on diversity as a result of efforts led by the Diversity Lab and commitments from more than 100 firms to the Mansfield Rule. The Mansfield Rule is an evidence-based strategy that law firms utilize to ensure at least 30 percent of women, lawyers of color, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities are considered for senior-level positions. Research shows the higher the concentration of minority candidates in a finalist pool, the more likely they will be hired. If the law community can change their practice, we can and should do the same.

Without acknowledging the system in which we all inhabit and unconsciously endorse, we may never reach our goal of diversifying the Hill or government affairs. More than ever before, our humanity is at stake.