“To combat the systemic legal, social, and institutional constraints that have created barriers to racial equality, we must move beyond a diversity mindset—which may foster tokenism—to an actively antiracist mindset…An organization that is actively antiracist has policies and practices in place that address systemic inequities. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts (which typically emphasize the D) can be a means to an antiracist end but often do not go far enough.”
The Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Publishing (C4DISC) has announced publication of an Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations. Authored by a multiracial cohort of scholarly publishing professionals, including PUP Director Christie Henry, the Toolkit was developed to aid individuals at all experience levels and across the scholarly publishing community implement “inclusive policies, procedures, and norms.” As a member of C4DISC, Princeton University Press enthusiastically supports the mission of this community resource and as an organization is committed to its contents.
The Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations is the second in a series of antiracism resources for scholarly publishers to better support BIPOC staff and better serve BIPOC authors, readers and reviewers. This is the second resource developed as in a larger series of anti-racism toolkits for scholarly publishing. The Antiracism Toolkit for Allies published in August 2020 includes an introduction that provides the foundation for this project. An Antiracism Toolkit for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, is forthcoming as of the publication of this guide.
Publishing industry surveys make clear the critical need for serious, sustained antiracism work. The Workplace Racism Survey conducted by People of Color in Publishing and Latinx in Publishing and released in June 2021, reported widespread experiences with workplace racism across the publishing industry. Among respondents—who included both current and former BIPOC industry professionals of all experience levels across departments at trade and independent houses—72.3 percent reported experience with micro-aggressions, 61 percent reported having to modify their behavior to fit into workplace culture, and 88.6 percent reported feeling that it was their job to educate others about diversity.
As the Toolkit underscores, “Building equity and promoting antiracism at organizations are not the jobs of specific individuals but are collective responsibilities.”