A Black DEI consultant, white female DEI consultant, Black midwife, and white male ob-gyn all walk into a bar….

It’s reminiscent of the opening for one of the most “classic” well-known joke types.

Only this time we instinctively know it won’t be a joke. It won’t be funny.

And we know based on lived experience that the Black DEI consultant and Black midwife will predictably get the short end of the stick in any scenario involving white people.

Even without knowing the rest of the joke, the historicity of the treatment of racialized others informs the punch line.

Outcomes for Black people in the United States—and lo, even in the world at large—are very predictable…. not because of race….because of racism. A distinction with livelihood-threatening, life-threatening, and deadly differences.

So…..Poll Tax, DEI Certification, and Midwifery

I can’t stop thinking about the post of Tammy Triolo in which she compared DEI certification to the poll tax.

She’s not wrong.

And I also can’t stop thinking about how “certification” has dramatically shaped and altered the “face” (pun intended) of midwifery.

Prior to the 20th century, the great majority of midwife faces looked like mine.

But first….

Here’s Tammy’s powerful and succinct post [copyedited for clarity]:

“When Black people got the right to vote, white people came up with a poll tax. ‘So you wanna vote? Can you read this? You can’t? Ok, no vote for you!'”

“Can we talk about the poll tax that was created for DEI? ‘Oh, this work was created for Black/POC people in corporate spaces? Do you have a certification to do it? No? Ok, no DEI for you!'”

Here is the exchange between the two of us in the comments of her post:

Me: “You nailed it, sis. Historically, it is a *popular* tactic of racial capitalists— changing the *rules* of the *game* to keep us locked out of the *game.* Nothing new under the sun. Just a *modernized* iteration of a system bent on doing what it was created to do.”

Tammy: “Even worse is the Black people that now ask for this too. I had a Black woman reach out to me awhile back about a director of DEI position [and] asked about certifications. I told her [I] don’t have it and have no plans on getting it. Never heard back from her, and the kicker? SHE OWNS HER COMPANY. What made her reach out to me was my post here on LinkedIn. So you know how I approach this work and more importantly HOW I do this work but the rules that WE didn’t change now says a certificate is needed and you just going along? Ok sis bye. We need to decolonize our minds quickly.”

Me: “Same here. I have no *official* or *whiteness sanctioned* certifications in either DEI or anti-racism, but our white *sisters* over there who learned and stole from us are getting assignments and contracts. And yes, some of *us* are doing the gate-keeping. Guuurrrllllll…….And same here with prospects saying they want me because they have been watching my work and have seen me in action………..BUT then I don’t have the issued *freedom papers* that Tiffany Wallingsford Richfield has, so……crickets……”

Poll Tax in Context

Poll tax is not specific to the United States.

But just like nobody did slavery quite like the U.S.,

and nobody does oppression quite like the U.S.,

and nobody does discrimination quite like the U.S.,

well, the same thing applies to poll tax.

No other country has ever done it quite like this one.

According to a quick search on Wikipedia, the poll tax served its desired effect (along with literacy tests and “legal” intimidation) of disenfranchising us.

Until 1965 in many states, we were required to first pay a poll tax in order to vote. Not surprisingly, the tax got its start in some states as part of Jim Crow laws. The 15th Amendment extended the right to vote to everyone, and so the poll tax was a tool used to restrict voting rights. The grandfather clauses were designed strategically to disenfranchise Black folks and other non-Black POC, as well as poor white folks (collateral damage). The poll tax—and everything associated with its interpretation and enforcement—was deliberately designed to disproportionately affect Black folks.

So, you can’t pay? Then you can’t vote.

So, you can’t read from the selection we’ve chosen for you to read from? Then you can’t vote.

So, you can’t explain this excerpt from the state constitution that’s just been read to you? Then you can’t vote.

So, you can’t answer these questions about the law? Then you can’t vote.

So, you have a felony record because you were arrested for not moving to the other side of the street to let a white person pass? Then you can’t vote.

Here’s a little “gem” I found that might be of interest:

“This newspaper believes in white supremacy, and it believes that the poll tax is one of the essentials for the preservation of white supremacy.” [a Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News editorial, 1939]

Because…..you know…..Alabama.

Just so we’re clear, poll tax was a white supremacist inspired voting fee directed primarily at Black folks—a fee assessed in order for us to cast our vote. “Eligible” voters were required to pay the fee before being allowed to vote.

DEI certification is a fee we pay after satisfying a set of criteria that says we are “legitimate” and “approved” by the powers-that-be that have established the curriculum and guidelines.

Is any of this coming together for you?

The Black Elephant in the Room

Whiteness shows up in all hues.

Gatekeepers show up in all hues.

In my exchange with Tammy, notice that she shared the “crickets reaction” she got from a Black woman who owns her own company upon finding out that Tammy lacks DEI certification.

There are multiple things wrong with that scenario which I won’t go into this week, but if you are Black and don’t see anything wrong with a Black woman business owner passing on contracting with a Black woman DEI consultant because said Black woman DEI consultant lacks the certification that whiteness “dictates” we should have, then let me just say this in no unclear terms….

That’s a problem.

That’s a huge problem.

And you, too, are likely a huge problem.

Important Points

Black folks have been doing this work and advocating for ourselves long before it was even called DEI or anti-racism. White people were not doing this work because…..you know…..racism and white supremacy.

With Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s (equal employments laws, affirmative action) and the influx of immigrants, white folks decided that they needed to rework that whole “black and white” paradigm.

Voilà….DEI makes its way onto the scene.

From whom do you think all that knowledge, learning, and lived experience originated?

Let me give you a clue.

White people were kinda busy oppressing, discriminating, and lynching us, so both the concept and practice of how to be decent human beings to other human beings did not originate with white people.

Fast forward…white folks learned the ideals of diversity, equality, equity, inclusion, and justice from members of marginalized groups. White folks then co-opted and stole these learnings. (Present tense verbs also work accurately here.)

Racial capitalists then created different DEI certification programs in order to monetize and profit from doing this work themselves while at the same time gatekeeping the work. The “fancier” DEI certification programs cost upwards of $3500, both a redundancy and cost-prohibitive.

Black folks–whose vast knowledge and lived experience comprise much of the foundation of DEI—are then “locked out” of opportunities because we lack the certification.

White women and white-owned companies are awarded most contracts for DEI work and are usually paid at higher rates than Black folks and non-Black POC.

Are non-certified DEI consultants and anti-racism educators on our way to being SYSTEMATICALLY and SYSTEMICALLY DISCREDITED?

It doesn’t seem far-fetched at all when you consider this—

It happened to midwives.

The Connection to Midwifery

The smear campaign against midwifery has been so successful that most folks don’t even know the history of how midwives got squeezed out.

Before the 1900s, the U.S. relied on midwives, many of whom were Black and Indigenous women or women from immigrant communities with deep generational knowledge of the birth process. They offered patient-centered services that were safe and affordable.

White male physicians were taking note of how skilled these women were and what good results they were getting. When obstetrics was developing, they began to view midwives as “the competition” that would cut into their profits and stature. So, whiteness did what whiteness frequently does. Take control. White men decided in the early 1900s that birth should take place in a hospital under a doctor’s care.

White. Men. Decided.

Now where have we seen and heard that before?

Anyhoo…..Within just a few decades of this decision, midwives were “regulated out of existence” through a marketing campaign that sought to characterize midwives as lazy, unclean, and careless and to delegitimize their midwifery practice as unsanitary and unsafe.

“In 1921, Congress passed the Sheppard-Towner Act requiring all midwives to undergo health and safety training. Although the bill aimed to minimize lethal maternal health risks, advocates mapped RACE and ETHNICITY onto hygiene and inadequate healthcare systems, molding the midwife’s image into that of a RACIST CARICATURE. As a result, midwives were banned from hospitals, and by 1951, 90 percent of women gave birth in hospitals.” (Austin, Kennedy. “End Racial Disparities in Maternal Health, Call a Midwife,” Feb 2020)

To this day, many people don’t realize that midwives and birthing centers offer statistically safer alternatives to ob-gyns and hospitals.

 What started out as a “knowing” and an apprentice-acquired skill is now a series of state-based regulations that mandate “a host of certification and logistical requirements that make it difficult for midwives to practice, much less make a living at it.”

Who do you think controls and writes the certification exams?

And of course, though only 6% of certified midwives in this country are male, they still out-earn female midwives (majority white) who earn 91% of what their male counterparts earn. (“Certified Nurse Midwife Demographics and Statistics in the US,” 2021)

Using certifications to shut out members of marginalized groups from the professional fields we ourselves have birthed (pun intended) is another version of the poll tax, which Tammy Triolo rightly says.

Besides DEI and Midwifery, where else is this racial capitalist practice being exercised?

It’s rhetorical.

*Note — In case you’re curious about how I analogously landed on midwifery for this article, I recently spoke at a conference for midwives, and it continues to blow my mind how much history this country has concealed.

The following information should alarm all of us–

• The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any other industrialized country. Look it up.
• Black women in the U.S. are 4 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than white women. Look it up.
• Black newborn babies in the U.S. are less likely to die when cared for by Black doctors. Look it up.

If you haven’t already, please view the documentary “Aftershock” streaming on Hulu. Once you see it, you won’t be able to unsee it.

From there, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

**A special thank-you to my friend Rhonda Dixon, Texas-based certified nurse-midwife and activist, for all that she does in service to Black families and for graciously raising my awareness of the history of midwifery.

**A special thank-you to my friend Dr. Crystal Gullo-Buzzetti, New York state based physician and maternal & neonate health equity advocate, for all that she does in service to Black families and for sharing with me her insights on the pervasiveness of racism in healthcare.

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Thru September 30 or until we reach maximum capacity of 50 (whichever comes first), you can apply to be a member of my “True Anti-Racism Allies Academy.” The optimum term here is “true.” Having launched August 1, the Academy is a subscription-based community for aspiring anti-racism allies and anti-racism allies-in-progress to (un)learn and grow to become impactivists™. Benefits include community support for the journey, coaching, content not released on LinkedIn, minimum of one video lesson per month, monthly invitation to a live virtual learning lab.

The community is NOT right for those who are “fragile,” ego-driven, unreceptive to feedback and correction, averse or “allergic” to discomfort, or are looking for “ally cookies.”

Our first week together focused on “adulting” (it doesn’t mean what you think it means in the anti-racism space) as a non-desirable trait for impactivists™ and on what it means to really listen.

This week we’re discussing and practicing “The Impact Apology” which decenters intent.

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