Black leaders as an endangered species | Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza, PhD | TEDxWest Valley College

Key Concepts:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
• Habitat (as a metaphor for professional environments)
• Sociohistorical context (W.E.B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction)
• Conservationist criteria (population reduction, geographic range, etc.)
• Extinction and de-extinction (of Black leaders in professional spaces)
• Environmental threat (racism)
• Success condition framework
• Hospitable conditions

1. GIS Mapping and Environmental Threat Factors

• GIS mapping is used to analyze geographical features and complex connections, providing insights into context and interactions across areas. It's applied metaphorically to survey the landscape of industry leaders and companies to assess the health of environments for Black CEOs.
• The IUCN Red List defines conservation status by severity, with seven levels related to threat (extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, least concern).
• Species become endangered due to loss of genetic variation and loss of habitat.
• Example: The Arabis macdonaldiana (Red Mountain Rock Cress) is endangered because its magnesium and nickel-rich soil habitat was targeted by the mining industry.

2. Habitat and Sociohistorical Perspective

• Habitat is defined as the place where a plant or animal naturally lives and grows. For humans to succeed, there needs to be a baseline of opportunity.
• W.E.B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction explains how a lack of hospitable habitat harmed Black progress, linking slavery to American capitalism and institutional racism (Jim Crow laws).
• Reconstruction failed to provide a sustainable socio-economic habitat, including land ownership, political representation, economic prosperity, and legal rights for Black people.

3. Applying Conservationist Criteria to Black Leadership

• Conservationist criteria (population reduction rate, geographic range, population size, population restriction, probability of extinction) can be used to elucidate challenges faced by Black leaders in social contexts.
• The speaker asks the audience to consider whether the population of Black leaders is increasing or declining in their professions.
• The speaker asks the audience to consider whether Black leaders are thriving or endangered in their industries.
• Author Michael J. Benton describes extinction as a series of foolish actions despite warnings. Understanding extinction can lead to imagining de-extinction.

4. The Analogy of Endangered Species and Hospitable Environments

• The concept of endangered species is less about the organism and more about the sustaining environments.
• Species become endangered when the environment can no longer sustain them.
• The analogy focuses on creating hospitable environments and success conditions for Black leaders.
• The speaker emphasizes that the focus should be on the environmental conditions conducive to success, rather than biases of race, gender, or ability.
• Applying principles of conservation can reveal an ecosystem of racism and allow for the restoration of justice, integrity, and humanity.

5. Environmental Design Method and Success Conditions

• Using an environmental design method helps tap into the unethical underpinnings in environments where Black leaders are least successful.
• The speaker focuses on Black leaders who are ready, dedicated, well-adapted, and naturally suited for leadership.
• The question is posed: Why do these natural-born leaders become stressed in environments they are suited for? How do they become endangered?
• The speaker draws an analogy to plants and animals, suggesting that when their well-being is disrupted, the focus should be on the environmental conditions impacting them.

6. Creating Hospitable Conditions

• Allies of Black leaders are conscious of the environments they create and choose ethical behavior to remove negativity and unhealthy competition.
• The speaker is developing a success condition framework that leads to healthy habitats.
• When a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment it grows in, not the flower.
• The audience is encouraged to leave with an awareness of racism as an environmental threat and determine their role in creating a hospitable habitat for Black leaders.

7. Conclusion

• While perfect conditions are an idealistic goal, the aim should be to maintain hospitable conditions and improve from there.
• The main takeaway is to shift the focus from the individual Black leader to the environment they operate in, identifying and addressing systemic issues that hinder their success.