This is a statement we’ve put together as the TakeAction staff.
This week, this month, and this year have been incredibly painful and challenging for our country. All of us here at TakeAction are grieving and shaking with rage.
We witnessed yet another set of murders of black men at the hands of the police – Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile, a beloved father who worked with children in St. Paul Public Schools, in Falcon Heights. In that same week, four Latinos faced a similar fate. This needs to end.
In Dallas, many people joined together for a peaceful day of action and came to an abrupt stop when a lone gunman targeted 11 police officers, killing five. We mourn for the families of these officers. This is a tragedy – for all of us – and it is not a reflection of those who stand up to police misconduct. And, we can’t let it stop the conversation we’re having as a country on the rights of Black community and other people of color.
Here’s where we’re at as the TakeAction community, a historically white organization that now has a growing presence and leadership of people of color: As people of color at TakeAction, we fear for our lives and wellbeing, questioning whether or not we and our loved ones will be safe – while continuing to lead work in each of our own communities. As white people in the organization, we’re wrestling with how to show up to confront racism and privilege, how we show leadership and show up to support the leadership of people of color. It’s clear to all of us that this is an issue that impacts all of us, though in different ways, and it will take all of us to address it.
There’s been more than 500 deaths of people killed by the police just this year, with Black, Latinos, and Native Americans being killed at the highest rates with no accountability of police in sight. THIS is a form of systemic violence. The deaths of Alton and Philando, along with countless others, is a reflection of a police system that isn’t working. And of the structural racism deeply imbedded in our country that shows up in schools that fail kids of color, in the ways that people of color are degraded at work, in almost every facet of our society.
It’s hard to write these words, but we must. We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to rise up, together, and demand change. We’ve got to love each other and build a better world. The marches, protests, rallies happening in our state and across our country led by black leadership – women, queer people, entire families – is work that’s been going on for decades to transform this country into a more just one, to demand that Black Lives Matter. But we all have to join them so that real systemic change can be made.
The movement for black lives is a peaceful one and it’s one focused on bringing about a better world for all of us. Again, it’s about love. We stand with it – the whole TakeAction staff team made up of white folks and people of color. Every single one of us has a role in this movement. We need to support and build with the work of black leadership.
We want to hear what you have to say about all of this because at the end of the day we know that in order to mobilize the larger TakeAction community to take a stand against police brutality and for #BlackLivesMatter – we’ve got to build together and that can’t happen if we can’t talk to each other. So let us know, what role do you think you have in taking a stand against police violence?
Look for another email from us soon on concrete action steps. This is the first part of an ongoing conversation and the time to act. Let’s stand together for racial, economic justice and for #BlackLivesMatter.
In love and in solidarity,
Dan McGrath, Amanda Otero, Justin Terrell, Arianna Genis, Jane Booth-Tobin and the rest of the TakeAction team
