Black Lives Matter

Dear Community,

We hope you are taking care of yourselves and each other right now. If there is someone you’ve been meaning to check in with, please do it.

The brutal killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other Black people are simply horrendous. Once again, this moment reveals what is always here but too often suppressed. As Kareem Abdul-Jabbar put it, “Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible—even if you’re choking on it—until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air.”

As an organization that centers the leadership of women who are at the helm of grassroots initiatives to heal and transform our communities, we deeply believe that equity and justice are possible. But there can be no justice—not racial, social, gender or environmental—without an end to white supremacy and anti-Blackness. As an organization and as individuals, we are committed to the ongoing and rigorous work of looking at our positionality, our privilege, and doing ever more to stand with our Black relatives. As part of WEA’s Where We Stand Fund, we will be contributing this week to a Black women-led grassroots organization in Minneapolis (at the recommendation of Reclaim the Block), bail funds, and a Bay Area based black-led grassroots organization. Below, we’ve compiled resources on anti-racism and additional ways to take action. Please share with us—we'd love to know what actions you are taking.

So, for all of our Black sisters and brothers who have to wake up every single day in an unjust and dangerous system, for Indigenous land and sovereignty defenders, for those whose safety from state violence is always under threat, for our future—we are here, listening and ready to act. The future we are working toward—one in which our communities and environment are safe and just—is simply not possible if we stay neutral, stay the same, or stay on the sidelines.

In solidarity,

Amira, Kahea, Melinda, Sarita and Tarit