How Individuals Can Create Equity, Justice and Combat Racism in the Wine Industry

Through actions, any individual can help the wine industry become a safe and brave space. We must be mindful of how our individual actions contribute to and take from our work communities and environment, whether it be working alongside others, speaking truth to power, recognizing those harmed, and/or doing harm.
 

ADVOCACY

  • Take account of implicit biases and how they affect the way you treat co-workers and customers.

  • Do not expect colleagues of color to do the emotional work or lead anti-racist efforts.

  • Do not call ICE or the police when there is a possibility of causing harm or when there is a dispute that might involve an undocumented worker. Black/Brown/Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by government and police violence.

  • Be mindful of residents. Speak up, seek support or ask for help when witnessing, experiencing, or suspecting any form of harassment, assault, or discrimination against other wine professionals or customers. Your silence may enable an abusive situation.

  • Recognize that allyship is a start, but not the end goal. Allyship can cause complacency and comfort, when the ultimate goal is to achieve change. 

GIVING BACK AND GIVING UP

  • Use your privileges to give others access to financial, social, and cultural capital. Are there aspects of your life that are easier because of the privilege you enjoy such as being white, male, cisgender, young, or able-bodied? Think about the access those with less privilege have and use your privilege to speak up about issues that affect others.

  • Practice Step Up/Step Down if you feel like you’re receiving more opportunities than people and businesses with less privileged status.

 
 

ANTI-BULLYING

  • Recognize when bullying is occurring in your professional space. Neutralize and DE-ESCALATE the situation and have a private conversation with the person that has been harmed. 

  • Support those harmed in their decision of whether or not to bring the occurrence forward to management/event host/ responsible party of the space. 

  • Suggest and utilize resources such as Hollaback or Stop Bullying. 

  • Foster safety and positivity on social media to support colleagues. Refrain from name-calling, spreading gossip, falsehoods or rumors, discussing personal lives, and other retaliatory behaviors on-line or based on online content. 

  • Have one-on-one conversations with people that may be doing harm in extended social networks, including social media platforms. The court of public opinion is also rife with implicit and explicit bias and falsehoods. Perpetuating cancel culture is harmful and can create an atmosphere of bullying.

  • Communicate directly with colleagues about potential abusers. Cancel other wine professionals only in extreme cases such as sexual assault, unrepentant hate speech, and unaddressed discriminatory hiring practices. 

  • Support whistleblowers who call out inequities in the wine industry.

  • Support wrongfully terminated workers. 

  • Use your power and privilege to empower and create opportunities for our colleagues. DO NOT manipulate, strong arm, or harm the careers or reputations of other wine industry professionals.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND PRESERVATION

  • Minimize water usage and use grey (recycled) water whenever possible.

  • Be mindful of your individual environmental impact on local communities in rural AND urban areas.

  • Support businesses who’ve made commitments to environmental progress. Buy used items whenever possible. 

  • Minimize single-use items. Everything from coffee cups to water bottles, paper towels to shopping bags, can be replaced by reusable alternatives. 

  • Be mindful of ordering online. To reduce footprint when doing so, don’t request expedited shipping, buy multiple items at once, ask for eco-friendly packaging, and be sure of what you want to avoid returns.

  • If your job requires purchasing a car or truck, select vehicles that are electric, hybrids or have low carbon emissions if financially possible. 

  • Walk, bike, carpool, and take public transportation to and from your workplace whenever possible. 

  • Create collective purchasing structures within your professional and personal circles. 

  • Support CSA programs, and work to localize your foodshed. 

 

PRACTICES

  • Speak to your employer about how you can work together to foster belonging in your workplace. All people benefit when wine industry spaces are diverse in race, gender identity, age, ability, ethnicity, culture, immigration status, sexual orientation and identity, class position and economic background, work experience, and religious belief and affiliation.

  • Contribute to an inclusive culture in your workplace so that Black, Indigenous, Brown and Asian people, women, trans, and non-binary genders and the LGBTQ+ community, people over 40, immigrants, migrant workers, differently-abled and formerly incarcerated individuals feel a sense of belonging. 

  • Acknowledge and support colleagues who are grieving or experiencing individual or collective trauma from police brutality, hate crimes, sexual assault, and other forms of physical and emotional violence.

  • Do not hoard the best shifts and accounts for yourself.

  • Do not assume customers have less or more money to spend based on their physical appearance (race, gender, sexuality, age, or ability) or speech. 

  • Demand best practices in the wine educational systems that you are affiliated with and ask:

    • What the racial achievement/opportunity gap is, and what they are doing to fix it.

    • Ask what their environmental practices are. 

    • Ask if their educational materials only tell a white/colonial perspective. 

  • Learn and acknowledge Indigenous cultures whose traditional lands are the sources of your produce, including wines.

Take a Stand for Equity in Wine