What is cultural equity?

Writer and nonprofit advocate Vu Le writes that cultural equity is ultimately about money and resources for marginalised groups.

Equity is about ensuring the communities most affected by injustice get the most money to lead in the fight to address that injustice, and if that means we break the rules to make that happen, then that’s what we do. Some of you are probably thinking, “Money? That’s your definition? That’s simplistic AF. Maybe you should stick to writing nonprofit jokes.” Yes. It’s money. Equity is about money and whether that money is going to the people most screwed over by our society. All of us need to stop avoiding this basic premise. – Vu Le

Americans for the Arts agree that cultural equity fundamentally involves the fair distribution of resources:

Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.

The related concept of racial justice is about affirmative actions taken to create and sustain racial equity. Race Forward defines racial justice as:

The systematic fair treatment of people of all races, resulting in equitable opportunities and outcomes for all. Racial justice—or racial equity—goes beyond “anti-racism.” It is not just the absence of discrimination and inequities, but also the presence of deliberate systems and supports to achieve and sustain racial equity through proactive and preventative measures.

Racial Justice [is defined] as the proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all.

 I recommend the Diversity Arts Creative Equity Toolkit which has links to rich resources in this space.

What is lateral violence?

The Australian Human Rights Commission defines lateral violence, also known as horizontal violence, as ‘a product of a complex mix of historical, cultural and social dynamics that results in a spectrum of behaviours that include: gossiping; jealousy; bullying; shaming; social exclusion; family feuding; organisational conflict; and physical violence.’

[Lateral] violence comes from being colonised, invaded. It comes from being told you are worthless and treated as being worthless for a long period of time. Naturally you don’t want to be at the bottom of the pecking order, so you turn on your own.[2]

Lateral violence is ‘trying to feel powerful in a powerless situation’[3] and is a term often used to describe the types of violence perpetrated within subjugated groups, such as First Nations communities, people of colour, and people working in low paid professions. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission,

Acts of lateral violence establish new hierarchies of power within colonised groups that mimic those of the colonisers. That means, not only are we dealing with the harm that lateral violence causes individuals, we are also dealing with the destruction that it causes to the traditional structure and roles in our societies as we abandon our own ways and become the image of those who oppress us.

[2] R. Frankland (2009) A frank discussion on tackling black lateral violence, NIT, as cited on Creative Spirits.

[3] G. Phillips (2009) Healing Identity in Contemporary Australia: What is a real/traditional/grassroots Aborigine, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Seminar Series, Canberra.

What is cultural safety?

The term ‘cultural safety’ originally comes from the work of Maori nurses in New Zealand, and is defined as,

An environment that is safe for people: where there is no assault, challenge or denial of their identity, of who they are and what they need. It is about shared respect, shared meaning, shared knowledge and experience of learning, living and working together with dignity and truly listening [1]

Cultural competency programs with a focus on developing skills, knowledge and attitudes can be problematic because they may ‘lull practitioners into a falsely confident space.’[2] Cultural safety is more than developing cultural competency: it is a paradigm shift which requires people to ‘examine sources of repression, social domination, and structural variables such as class and power,’[3] and ‘social justice, equity and respect.’[4]

This requires people and institutions to engage in deep, critical and ongoing self-reflection: ‘a stepping back to understand one’s assumptions, biases, and values, and a shifting of one’s gaze from self to others and conditions of injustice in the world.’[5]

[1] R. Williams (1999) ‘Cultural safety – what does it mean for our work practice?’ Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 23(2).

[2] E. Curtis et al (2019) ‘Why cultural safety rather than cultural competency is required to achieve health equity: a literature review and recommended definition,’ International Journal For Equity in Health (18: 174).

[3] D. Doutrich et al (2012) ‘Cultural safety in New Zealand and the United States: looking at a way forward together,’ Journal of Transcultural Learning 23(2): 143-150.

[4] S. McGough, D. Wynaden and M. Wright (2017) ‘Experience of providing cultural safety in mental health to aboriginal patients: a grounded theory study,’ International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 2017.

[5] A. Kumagai and M. Lypson (2009) ‘Beyond cultural competence: critical consciousness, social justice, and multicultural education,’ Academic Medicine 84(6): 782-787.