An Anti-Racist Framework that Situates Reflection: A Way Forward

Abstract

The anti-racism discourse is messy, highlighting the need for frameworks that clarify the dialogue, eliminate racism, and promote equity. This study focused on surveying anti-racist policies and practices and articulating key concepts to promote equity. The study aggregated 13 reviews; referenced 465 articles across five professional fields (allied health, education, health care, science, and social work); and comprehensively examined the findings. The study findings outline professional practices toward equity, including robust community engagement. The study prominently recommends reflection for practitioners’ self-awareness as an antecedent for engagement in anti-racist work and as a practice to avoid hurting marginalized communities. This study informed the development of an experiential orientation incorporating the findings. The orientation acknowledges the dark history of inequity and promotes action to dismantle the historical trappings that normalize racism. The orientation uses the photoVoice methodology which serves as a reflective strategy to promote anti-racism. The methodology incorporates focus groups to identify individual and community needs to promote reform and policy change. The research describes the anti-racist work of Dr. X Ibram Kendi. Kendi (2021) brings emerging thinking and ideology that focuses on advancing the conversation from being not racist to being anti-racist. An anti-racist narrative promotes action. Arguably, there are challenges to this contemporary anti-racist discourse. The discourse has generated skepticism in the scholarly community, a dilemma. The lack of understanding of the anti-racist narrative drives the need to highlight and assess the study's results to describe anti-racist strategies that promote equity.