To say that Xusana Davis had a busy year would be an understatement.
Davis, the state’s first executive director of racial equity, has taken on two seismic tasks: dismantle systemic racism in Vermont and respond to a pandemic that has hit communities of color the hardest.
“I feel sufficiently whelmed,” Davis said, reflecting on her first year in the job.
In 2018, Vermont lawmakers created Davis’ position to identify and address racism intruding into state governance. Her role was defined to conduct race-based bias trainings; collect data to identify racial disparities in state systems; and root out bias in the judiciary, the Legislature and state agencies through performance evaluations.
But, as Davis told VTDigger, her role has swelled beyond those initial responsibilities. And she has a staff of one: herself. She’s carrying a portfolio of committee assignments and the Legislature has frequently called on her for expert testimony and has added more and more assignments to her plate.
Which is why some lawmakers and advocates are saying Davis can’t continue this way. Her position needs to expand into an office, they say.
Davis herself said she doesn’t think her role is sustainable as is.
George Floyd’s killing
“When I first got here, people were already very interested in pursuing racial equity,” Davis said in an interview. “But since the murder of George Floyd, that has just expanded to a degree that I didn’t anticipate. And that’s a great thing, because I think a lot of members of dominant groups, specifically white people in our state, have heard a bell ring that they can’t unhear now.”
When George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25, countless protests occurred across the country, including Vermont. Many people knelt for 8 minutes, 46 seconds — the length of time the police office knelt on Floyd’s neck.
Davis said her inbox has been flooded with questions from Vermonters, residents of the second-whitest state in the nation, about how they can fight racism that was made obvious by the summer’s events.
“It has translated to a much heavier workload for me, which is great,” Davis said. “But it’s also just tough to manage the inbox.”
Beyond fielding questions, over the past year and a half Davis has coordinated bias training for police departments and state agencies, and coordinated outreach events so Vermonters can better understand how systemic racism exists. Initially, she traveled around Vermont doing that work; now she continues those events virtually in a world changed by the pandemic.
She’s also working with police departments on collecting traffic-stop race data, which in the past has revealed clear racial disparities in policing. She’s been briefing departments on updated policies they need to follow after S.219 became law, requiring state police to wear body cameras and prohibiting use of chokeholds on a suspect.
The legislation requires Davis, along with an independent organization and the Criminal Justice Training Council, to work with police departments to develop uniform policies for data collection, including use of force during traffic stops.
She’s also led efforts to translate government information and other materials into different languages to equalize access for non-English speakers. She led the creation and implementation of the Equity Impact Assessment Tool — a test applied to state policy and budget proposals. It requires staff members to question what groups were or were not consulted on any policy that could have adverse effects on disadvantaged communities.
All this doesn’t include her pandemic-specific responses. Davis said she’s been working to ensure that businesses owned by minorities, immigrants and women have access to Covid-19 recovery funds, including translating the application forms. She was also instrumental in leading the Economic Stimulus Equity fund, which provided some Vermonters — largely undocumented immigrants or those with green cards — with federal stimulus checks.
She also helped clean up the state’s Covid-19 race data collection. After VTDigger reported that Vermont wasn’t consistently tracking race data of those who tested positive for Covid-19, Davis was asked to testify before the Senate Health and Welfare and the House Health Care committees. She told lawmakers she would be involved in backtracking race data for all positive cases, which later revealed that disparities were emerging in the state.
On top of it all, she sits on 14 committees.
Davis said she doesn’t think her position is currently sustainable, given the workload.
“When you create a position like this and you outline a certain number of duties, it ends up creating additional duties,” Davis said. “Over the long term, it’s not clear how much more we can keep adding before it starts to defy the laws of physics that one person cannot be at all of these committees at one time.”
Davis declined to be specific about what extra resources she needs to be effective. “I always try to avoid this question because it feels self-serving,” she said.
“I think people around the state can see all of the work that’s in this portfolio,” Davis said. “And they’re wise enough to see for themselves whether it’s been adequately resourced and supported.”
She emphasized that she doesn’t feel alone in the work she’s pursuing in state government. She said Republican Gov. Phil Scott has been “extremely supportive and attentive” to the need to make progress toward racial equity.
Proposals for more help
During last year’s whirlwind legislative sessions, $150,000 in one-time money was put toward Davis’ work.
The suggestion for extra funding came in part from S.219, the law enforcement reform bill that the Legislature passed. It promised Davis would get more resources to help fulfill the responsibilities laid out for her in the bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee also earmarked money to support Davis’ work in addressing Covid-19 racial health disparities, said Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, the committee chair.
The extra money came from the $1.25 billion CARES Act passed by Congress for coronavirus relief.
But it should have been more, said Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, who chairs the Senate Government Operations Committee.
“We’ve assigned her so many duties,” White said. “There’s no way she can do this with a one-person shop.”
She said her committee plans to ask Davis this session what she needs to succeed in her wide-ranging job.
Rep. Kevin “Coach” Christie, D-White River Junction, introduced legislation last session — and plans to reintroduce it this year — to give Davis two analyst positions. Last year, the bill didn’t get out of committee.
Christie thinks Davis has been instrumental in Vermont’s response on racism, specifically during the summer protests over high-profile deaths of Black people at the hands of police. He called her Vermont’s “first responder” on issues of equity. When she shows up, people listen.
“As we continue in our resolve to mitigate systemic racism, we need to put our money where our mouth is,” Christie said. “We’ve put our hearts there. But we haven’t quite gone past the heart to the wallet.”
Rebecca Kelley, Gov. Scott’s communications director, said building Davis’ job into an office is “on the table” but she doesn’t want to get ahead of budget discussions.
“The governor understands racial equity cannot be the responsibility of one person in state government,” Kelley said in an email. “Not only is that not sustainable, it’s also not the most impactful way to address the inequity and systemic bias.”
She said Scott is assigning a “racial equity liaison” for every department in state government, a point person for racial equity work. “He’s requested this liaison be a person in the agency or department’s leadership team, so it’s a clear priority and so policymaking, budgeting and human resource decisions are made with equity as a key component,” Kelley said.
Still, others are unconvinced that Davis’ position is designed to have enough effect.
‘A force to be reckoned with’
Mark Hughes, executive director of the Justice For All racial justice organization, was a strong advocate for establishing Davis’ job, and thinks it should be independent of the governor, as originally proposed. It was amended in a House committee to make the racial equity director part of the governor’s administration. Scott still vetoed the legislation because he didn’t want to go through a five-member advisory committee to fire the executive director, and later approved the position after that provision was removed.
“The priorities that she has, they come from the governor,” Hughes said. “I think that the governor’s position on racial equity is reflective of the governor’s political agenda.”
Still, Hughes said Davis has navigated the political implications of her role “beautifully.” The job certainly has limitations, he said, but is still a first-of-its-kind presence in Vermont when it comes to addressing racial equity.
“When Xusana Davis walks in the room, when Xusana Davis gets on a call, when Xusana Davis shows up in the Legislature, whether it’s virtual or physical, it makes a statement,” Hughes said. “She’s a force to be reckoned with because of what she represents.”
Clarence Davis is a member of the Racial Equity Advisory Panel that oversees Davis’ work. He’s currently vice president for development at the University of Vermont Foundation; earlier, he was interim deputy secretary of the Agency of Human Services.
Clarence Davis said public employees are used to doing a lot with a little, as Xusana Davis is feeling now.
“I don’t think you will look at any agency or department in state government and they’re going to tell you we have everything we need,” Clarence Davis said. “If I could wave a wand, I would put a staff of five or 10 people at this and let them go.”
Still, he thinks she’s doing the best she can with what she has. He’s been impressed with the way Davis has built bridges between communities and government officials in pursuit of change.
Especially because he knows how hard this work is to take on. He knows what it’s like to be the only Black person in a room. In meetings at the Agency of Human Services, “99.9% of the time” he was the only person of color.
“These are difficult conversations to have at every level of the way,” Clarence Davis said. “And I think she’s navigated that with professionalism. She’s navigated that with grace.”
Xusana Davis recognizes the burden her position places on her shoulders, but she doesn’t fixate on it. Her ultimate hope is that one day there will be no need for a position like hers and she can put herself out of business.
“It is always going to be taxing,” she said, but “I think there’s a level of sacrifice in any public-interest work that you do. This particular public-interest work just happens to have real life-and-death consequences for people in this country. And be emotionally taxing and come with a great deal of hatred and vitriol and criticism.”
