For 3 years, Joenell Henry-Tanner has provided strategic leadership to guide Heartland Human Care Services in
engaging individuals experiencing poverty, displacement and injustice. Joenell’s history is rooted in the fight for equity and opportunity. Her family members were activists for racial justice in New Orleans in the early 20th century and she continues this legacy through her personal and professional dedication to equity. Today, Joenell’s commitment includes leading Heartland Alliance’s Anti-Racism Response Council (ARC) in an effort to keep our institution honest, intentional and strategic in the ongoing fight for true equity and justice.
Describe a truly equitable and free society. How is it different from now? What are we still missing?
A truly equitable and free society unshackles Black, Indigenous and People of Color from oppression and denial of human and civil rights. It is fortified and sustained through the redistribution of social, political, and economic power and privilege. Essentially, it is a world where I don’t have to fight to be seen. I don’t have to fight to for my dignity or my inherent value.
Put it this way: in the board room or my own neighborhood, I know I am black. It is a very present reality for me – every day. What I want is a world where I can take pride in being black, but where I don’t have to suffer because of the color of my skin. Where I don’t have to tell my daughter to mind her mouth if she gets pulled over by a police officer. Where we get to just BE.
How are you working toward this vision at Heartland Alliance?
I have spent the majority of my career promoting equity within underserved communities. It’s where I am most convicted, talented, and passionate. I live my commitment as I continue to lead our efforts to become an explicitly antiracist organization, and mentor our future leaders of color.
This is the first time in my career where I’ve been able to address racism directly, without apology or tap dance to make others comfortable. Tackling racism means addressing the root causes and being honest about our role in tackling, exacerbating or ignoring those root causes, within our own work, and within the environments in which we live and work.
We can now ask the hard questions. Are we paying staff fairly? Are we hiring and promoting staff fairly? Are our programs intentionally designed for people of color? How do racist systems and practices show up at Heartland?
Where should we look to in our past to help guide us to that vision?
Our past contains blueprints for our future. I look to past racial and social justice activists to unlock those blueprints – and acknowledge that we are in fact still working to solve the same fundamental problem: Racism.
I look back to people like Charles Hamilton Houston. He was a black attorney born in the 1800s and graduated from Harvard Law. He advocated for civil rights and racial justice through the legal system. He worked strategically and created the legal theory that lead to Brown vs Board of Education, which he believed would also address economic and political injustice. He’s known as “The Man that killed Jim Crow.” But here’s the thing, YOU RARELY HEAR OF HIM.
For me, as chief of staff, I have to play the long game – just like Charles Hamilton Houston.
