George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Eric Garner. Philando Castile. Tamir Rice. Laquan McDonald. Trayvon Martin. Say their names and remember that there are many more names on this list. Say their names and stand in solidarity with the people fighting for justice. Say their names and do something so that no more names are added to that list. We cannot allow violence against Black people to go on. We must do more than feel guilt. We must do more than write on social media. We must take action. This can take many forms, but it must be taken by all of us. We must peacefully protest, we must donate, we must write our elected officials, we must sign petitions, we must listen to Black voices, we must make space for Black voices and Black lives in all areas of society, we must stand in between violence and Black bodies, we must sacrifice our own privilege.
The disproportionate and unwarranted deaths of Black people due to police brutality, the Coronavirus, and the everyday inequities caused by a system built upon racism and oppression of minorities must stop. While we, as an organization, cannot ever fully understand the range of black experiences in America, we can work together to upend the systemic oppression that so heavily impacts the Black community in our country. We can do the work, we must do the work, and we will do the work.
The credit health disparities we encounter in our work due to years of disinvestment and lack of protections for predominantly Black communities is yet another form of oppression meant to prevent Black communities in particular, and communities of color in general, from overcoming generational trauma. We are and will continue to work to actively disentangle the clutches of racism and white supremacy from opportunities to access financial resources. Working Credit will continue to ensure that we use our research and services to empower Black communities and we promise to continue learning about how we can do that better, as we seek to help dismantle racism across the United States.
We commit to creating an anti-racist framework for our organization, one that takes into account the intersecting oppressions against multiple identities. And we will continue to expand our services to marginalized communities. Change will not stop with these few actions. It will continue as we do the work to educate ourselves.
