As politicians, CEOs, police chiefs, and people in positions of power become more familiar with social justice language, the risk of dilution and cooptation grows. Especially in “diversity, equity, and inclusion” work, how do we interrupt this when it happens and better align our actions with our values?

As social justice language becomes more and more mainstream, concepts like implicit bias, anti-racism, and systems change are often co-opted, watered down and misunderstood... whether intentionally or unintentionally. In this session, our goals will be (1) provide a space for participants to share examples from their own lives of that process, (2) use examples from our own work (particularly drawing from our experience with abolitionist collective MPD150 as well as more “traditional” DEI spaces with non-profits) to further define how that process plays out and what those terms truly mean, with definitions drawn from both theory and real-life practice, and (3) collectively share tips, tools, and tactics for interrupting that process. The session will be dialogue-driven, with generative questions and a digital space to record people’s answers/ideas (which can also be shared afterward).