The groundwater theory goes like this. Let’s say you have a lake in your backyard, and you find one fish floating dead in that lake. You would assess the fish. What’s wrong with it? Now apply that to one child failing in the education system. You might ask did that student study enough? Are they receiving the right supports at home? Let’s say you go out to your lake and half the fish are floating dead. You then have to assess the water. What is missing for half of the students in the education system? Let’s say you have 5 lakes in your backyard and half the fish are found floating in each of the lakes. Now, you have to assess the groundwater. If half the kids in the education system are failing, have trouble in the criminal justice system and in the child welfare system, it’s something bigger than all of those systems, especially when it’s mostly the same kids failing in each system.
The groundwater approach tells us that there is something structurally present in our systems. It shows us that “fixing” a fish won’t solve that fish’s problem. Even filtering the water will only result in recontamination over time. No, we need to address disparities at the groundwater level. I’m talking about systemic, structural racism. It’s a scary thing to think about, and one that most people don’t really understand. That’s why I like this groundwater approach. It helps us see the big picture, because it’s not just doctors, or teachers, or police officers, or child welfare workers alone treating certain groups differently, it’s all of our systems.
To me, this is an argument for targeted universalism, a topic for another time. But essentially, we know that bias is built into systems that disadvantage black and brown individuals and families, and we need to take a deep, structural, systemic approach to fixing it. And that means that every structure and system needs to be involved. This isn’t just a political problem, or an education problem, or a criminal justice problem. This problem belongs to us. All of us. If you think that you aren’t impacted by the inequities built into our system, the groundwater, you’re wrong. Because we all drink the groundwater, and if we can purify that groundwater, we all win.
The nonprofit world is starting to move in this direction, but the corporate world hasn’t quite stepped up to do their part. Just because you don’t think that your marketing or tech business, law practice, or logistics services are impacted by systemic racism, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be working to solve the problem. Because if you learned anything from my very brief description of the groundwater approach, you would know that everyone is affected. And everyone should be involved in the solution. So what do you have to offer?
