Please air the dirty laundry

Like many professionals I must complete a certain number of continuing education credits each year to maintain my license.  Due to a series of unfortunate events I found myself sitting in an ethics class one day last week instead of getting to all the work I had planned to accomplish.  In one section the instructor discussed the relevance of appearance and stressed the importance of maintaining reputation.  It was good advice because accountants hold a position of public trust, so we should not be entering into transactions that look sketchy even if they are technically allowable.  But then he went on to caution against disparaging the work of other accountants by saying "Even if you're right, keep it to yourself because it reflects badly on the entire industry."

What?!  No.  Bad.  Where is my spraybottle?!

This instructor was actively promoting the accounting equivalent of the blue wall of silence.  And I cannot abide the Spreadsheet of Silence.  Not even one little bit.  The correct response to someone within a group acting out of sync with professional or community standards is transparency; not coverup.  Trust is not built by keeping things from people that might upset them.  You build trust by being accountable for your mistakes and repairing the damage resulting from your actions.  You build trust by airing your dirty laundry and then cleaning it up.

It's the exact same undercurrent in every community controversy I have witnessed or experienced in recent years.  Like when we had to ban a dancer a few years ago for preying on vulnerable community members.  When one impacted person finally voiced their experience, the old guard on the organizing board wanted to handle the matter discretely and quietly in the background, out of the public eye, like had always been done before.  The rest of us wanted a completely transparent process.  Something the community could see and understand and know to rely on in the future.

When some part of the community is harming some other part of the community (intentionally or unintentionally), there's no way around bringing that shit to light.  If you pretend it's not happening, then it keeps happening and people continue experiencing harm.  If there's no mechanism to raise the issue, or if community leadership actively covers up the problematic behavior when someone does report it, then eventually all the impacted folks and their friends leave the community.

It's the same in broader society and around the world.  People in power who do terrible things often use their power to shield themselves from accountability.  Our pillar institutions in the US were built of and continue to run on various forms of oppression.  Harm persists.  People suffer.  Those of us trying to make a difference get exhausted.  Unfortunately we can't just leave Earth.  There are currently no other habitable planets in our solar system.  And even if there was somewhere to go, there isn't currently a way for marginalized folks to get there.

I’m not interested in perfection, I’m interested in accountability.  I don't want to hold anyone to a standard of perfection and I don't want to be held to a standard of perfection.  I spent way too many years imposing that on myself (it's still something I struggle with).  Perfection is not possible.  But what would be amazing is for everyone to try their best, recognize when they fail, take responsibility and be accountable, and seek to repair.  Then we can all experience something better in the future.

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Information and Inspiration

• Montana Innocence Project: The blue wall of silence perpetuates racist policing, wrongful convictions
• The New York Times: Opinion - Ethics Courses: Useless
• Hummingbird Firm: Why Accountability is Important for Community Engagement
• Dr Sharon Martin: Why People Refuse to Take Responsibility and How to Cope
• TransformHarm: 10 Strategies for Cultivating Community Accountability
• New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault: Transformative Justice and Community Accountability