People created colonialism, enslavement, apartheid, internment, and sometimes war to enrich themselves, displace and disenfranchise people, and consolidate power. The legacy of these economic and political apparatuses are health systems, educational systems, housing systems, media systems, voting systems, and financial systems that can be cruel, exclusionary, and violent.

Equity accounts for the persistent reality of this brutality. Equity simply means identifying,  understanding, and addressing on-going barriers to well-being and success.

Entrenching Equity brings to the forefront the impact of  structural, cultural, and direct physical violence on people. Entrenching Equity means sustaining the commitment to reimagining what we can do to share power, demonstrate an ethic of care, and pay attention to legacies of exploration, marginalization, and exclusion in the lives of people.

Entrenching Equity is about taking proactive measures to ensure equal access so that people can lead fulfilling, liberated, connected, and self-determined lives. Or, as McKinsey and Company framed it: Entrenching Equity is about shifting systems “so that the norms, practices, and policies in place ensure identity is not predictive of opportunities or workplace outcomes.” (McKinsey and Company, 2022). The same is true in educational, health, and other environments. The net benefit is extensive for job communities, job performance, student success, and individual well-being.