Embracing Conflict: Dealing with the Inevitable Tensions

Racism has created a field of tensions and contradictions that have to be navigated rather than resolved, lived within, and mined for their creative potential. The problem is much more deeply rooted than is often understood, grounded in our language, our words, and our beliefs. Our ongoing work as leaders is filled with inherent tensions and complications, from the effort to align the vision and mission of our organizations around our actual policies and practices to the need to see the enchanted remnant of older ways of thinking and believing that they survive in our disenchanted, rational world. There is an ongoing mystery to our work, a tension between charismatic and administrative leadership, between the spirit of our efforts and the human material we all have to work with, and between the functionality of our gatherings and the unpredictable nature of our encounters. Add to this the tensions between the efficacy of our work and the efficiency of our leadership, all of this before we have even begun struggling with the antiracist principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and one can see the magnitude of the challenge.