{"id":66531,"date":"2021-11-21T15:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T19:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/?post_type=bu-article&p=66531"},"modified":"2023-11-11T22:24:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T03:24:17","slug":"helping-undo-systemic-racism","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/magazine\/articles\/2021\/helping-undo-systemic-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Undo Systemic Racism"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Taylor Goyette-Frechette develops racial equity training for employees at Mass General Brigham<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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November 21, 2021<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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During her final year in the Bachelor of Social Work program at the former Wheelock College, Taylor Goyette-Frechette interned at the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, where she taught high school students about racial justice. \u201cIt was there,\u201d she says, \u201cthat I discovered the power of social work and the racial justice movement.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Goyette-Frechette (\u201917, SSW\u201920) is a trainer and project coordinator for Mass General Brigham<\/a> in Boston, developing and delivering racial equity training for the 80,000 employees of a healthcare system that includes Brigham & Women\u2019s and Mass General, two of the world\u2019s most prestigious teaching hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goyette-Frechette\u2019s work is inspired by the African philosophy Ubuntu, which roughly translates to \u201cI am because we are\u201d and emphasizes the power of community and the connectedness of people. She believes that our daily actions and decisions have the power to reinforce or to dismantle the culture of racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Taylor Goyette-Frechette works on racial equity training for the 80,000 employees of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For those who want to help undo systemic racism, Goyette-Frechette offers these suggestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with yourself.<\/strong> A racist system hurts everyone, and it\u2019s important to recognize how structural racism makes you feel and how it negatively affects your life. \u201cDon\u2019t only do this work on behalf of other people,\u201d says Goyette-Frechette. \u201cDo this work on behalf of yourself, your communities, and your children. We all have something to gain when we work to create a world centered on liberation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk about it.<\/strong> If you don\u2019t know how to start a conversation about racism, begin by expressing your personal feelings. \u201cInstead of trying to come up with the right words and the right language, lead with how you feel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Address the inequities around you.<\/strong> Look at your workplace, your neighborhood, and other spaces where you have power to make change. Challenge the policies and practices\u2014written or unwritten\u2014that result in injustice and inequity there<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find your people.<\/strong> \u201cThis is hard work, and you can\u2019t do it alone,\u201d says Goyette-Frechette, so look for others to join you on the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep your eye on the destination.<\/strong> \u201cWe\u2019re so focused on getting away from racism that we forget to think about what we want to move toward. What does that new world look like? A space without racism should feel liberating, and liberation feels good. Focus on creating a world that feels good. Let\u2019s all get free.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During her final year in the Bachelor of Social Work program at the former Wheelock College, Taylor Goyette-Frechette interned at the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, where she taught high school students about racial justice. \u201cIt was there,\u201d she says, \u201cthat I discovered the power of social work and the racial justice movement.\u201d Today, Goyette-Frechette […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9090,"featured_media":55888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Alumni","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[6613],"magazine-article-category":[6620,6681],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[6618],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/66531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9090"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66531"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/66531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75747,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/66531\/revisions\/75747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66531"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=66531"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=66531"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=66531"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=66531"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=66531"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=66531"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=66531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}