Everyone,
I am sure that this title may have caught everyone off guard, however I was encouraged to share my story with you all. This post may be long so just bare with me as I have been debating over and over since last week about making this post.
Last week I attended the Animal Expo in Orlando and it was great. One of the sessions what about DEI and the state of animal welfare and where we go from here. We spoke a lot about how animal welfare is dominated by mostly white women and how it sn be tough for people of color to not enter this field but to also stay in it.
The question was asked by a participant how did DEI all of a sudden become so important all of a sudden. The participant stated that they noticed that DEI became popular and common after the untimely death of George Floyd. The speaker asked if anyone would like to answer the question and I decided to answer based on my own experiences and things that I have faced while working in animal welfare.
I began by letting the room know that DEI became a " thing" in our organzation because after George Floyd's death my organization posted BLACK LIVES MATTER on social media. Internally I did not feel that statement was true because our leadership team was only white people. There wa snot 1 person of color on our leadership team and to me that did not feel right if we are going to post black lives matter. I felt like if black lives really mattered then why were we not a reflection of that internally. I mustered up the courage to email my CEO and have an open conversation with her about the topic and how I truly felt.
During my 5 years with my organization I have experienced more racism than I care to even to talk about however I will do so anyway. I have been spit at by clients, had objects from paper, cups of coffee to cat carriers thrown at me by clients. I have been called a F-ing N word by clients. I even had a white co-worker tell me that if I kept the leash around my body that I would find myself hanging from a tree. During these incidents I feel that my organization did nothing to support me or have my back. Most days I wanted to quit and give up however I felt like the animals needed me and I wanted to make a difference so I stayed. I have been threatened so much with physical violence or threats to have me fired so much that it does not even phase me anymore. If I am being honest that fear is so real that I usually apply to 1-2 jobs per week. I must admit that finally after about 1 year or more the employee who made the comment about me hanging from a tree ended uo getting fired.
I spoke a lot aboit how I started as a receptionist at the front desk and in 5 years I as able to climb the ladder and become director. That was a huge deal for me because after 20 years I am the first BLACK director that my organization has had. I have learned that people gravitate to what they can I dentify with. Having a black person on the leadership team means that all the people who look like me and feel like they do not belong have a place. They have an attainable dream that they can feel and see. I must say that I am very proud of that accomplishment.
Please keep in mind that what I am saying is not law. These thoughts are from my own personal experience and what I feel.
I have come to realize that through my encounters and experience that most white people are in animal welfare becasue they are looking to be the savior. They want to save the world and that is an easy thing to feel because they have never really had experience of poverty, homelessness,starvation, descrimination or any of that just because they were born with a certain skin color. Most people of color in animal welfare are not looking to be a savior but are looking to survive and this is the only means for them. Majority of them live check to check, may be on some sort of government assistance just to barely make the ends meet. I also spoke about how the people who are working from home are making decisions without even speaking to the people who work on the frontlines and are actually doing the work.
The only way that things will ever change is if we start to have these umcomfortable conversations and address the real issues. The only way that this dynamic will shift is if people of color are willing to speak up about how they truly feel and others are ready, willing and have open hearts to listen. Racism in animal welfare is deal REAL it is something that myself and the people who look like me face daily.
I know that I am talented. I was able to open up our organizations first low cost clinic without an instruction manual and it is doing well. In my current role I do everything from hiring employees, scheduling, ordering, training, coaching, and many other things. The only thing that I do not do in my clinics are surgeries, and see clients as this is illegal because I am not a doctor. I have the talent, the knowledge , the skills, the drive and I have a bachelor's degree, however there are still alot of times where I feel inadequate in the presence of my counterparts just because of the color of my skin. The most hurtful part about it is that I truly LOVE what I do and I truly care about these animals and making a difference in the lives of the animals and people in my community but I am not sure how long that will last. I say that not because I cannot do the work, I feel that I have so much to offer animal welfare however I am not sure how much longer I can continue to value and give so much to an industry that I feel does not value me or my contributions to the animals, staff and clients that come into my care. I have been through a lot of things in my life from poverty, to rape and homelessness however animal welfare has been the hardest thing to go through by far.
I know that I have so much more to give to the animals, clients and my staff but part of me wants to just walk away and go to a different industry and part of me wants to stay and fight for change and fight to make a difference not just for the animals but for the people as well. Remember that people do not leave jobs they leave environments and organizations. Please make sure that you let your teams know that you value them or you will lose them. Losing good people and people who are the core of companies or departments and be very costly to an organization.
If anyone has a similar story or experience I would love to hear about it.
If anyone has any questions, or concerns I'd love to hear those as well.
If this is a subject that you are not comfortable talking about or just do not want to address I respect that as well.
Thank you all for letting me share such a heavy topic. I was going to post anonymously because of the fear of others reactions but if I do that then I am not helping to change things.
This post is dedicated to my friends Sharon, Shelly and Lisa who I met at expo last week. These ladies were open to conversation and encourage me to post so this is for you ladies. This is also for anyone in animal welfare that has experienced any of the things I mentioned. Please know that I am here for you, you are not alone and we are in this fight together.
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Marissa Reid
Clinic Director
LifeLine Animal Project
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Access To Care Specialist
Clinic Management Specialist
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