Black Lives Matter: Our Stance, Thoughts, and Actions
Black Lives Matter: Our Stance, Thoughts, and Actions
By Colin Long and Pati Anderson
At Core, we see, hear, and feel the pain in our community right now. The recent events are just a piece of a long horrific history of racism, police brutality, inequality, and violence in our country. The murder of George Floyd and countless other victims has left us heartbroken and outraged. We want to help.
Our Stance: We believe in justice, equality, and human rights
We must stand together against racism, inequality, and violence in our country. Black lives matter and we need an end to racial injustice. Law enforcement and the judicial system – as well as access to healthcare and medicine – in America is not working for all communities, so it’s not working for us.
We stand with and care about Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. We want to be part of the solution to stop racial injustice and build a more inclusive and compassionate community.
Words are powerful and speaking out against injustice should never be underestimated. But we believe now is the time for action. We’ve described some of the actions we are taking below, and our hope is this may inspire you and your company to take action.
Having difficult conversations, self-reflecting, and learningAnti-racist discussions belong in our homes, offices, and communities. Here’s a resource library of materials like books, articles, and podcasts to start a conversation. Campaign Zero - an organization dedicated to ending police brutality in American - is using a comprehensive database of violence to identify effective policy solutions; check out their website to learn more about meaningful change in the works and how you can support it.
Our work at Core involves engaging with clients from all around the world, and therefore discussing politically charged topics in the office is not common practice at Core, but standing up for human rights is foundational to the research we conduct ourselves, the research our ethics committee reviews on behalf of other companies, and the principles on which our company stands. This is why we have started engaging in these difficult conversations and exploring how we can better serve our fellow humans.
Donating
- There are many nonprofits whose mission includes ending racial injustice and police violence. Some specific organizations we have identified include:
- Campaign Zero uses research-based policy solutions to end police brutality in America.
- NAACP fights for racial justice through litigation, advocacy, and public education.
- Color of Change moves decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America.
- Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
What We Can Do Tomorrow
We are still learning as a company about how we can be part of the solution. We are excited to share some of our ideas with you below, and we would welcome hearing feedback and other ideas from you.
- Hold local politicians accountable and write letters to lawmakers and decision makers in your area. Here’s a list of elected officials for Philadelphia county.
- Use these email templates from defund12.org to request that local government be allocated towards social services and public health. Here is the direct link to the email for Philadelphia.
- Support Black businesses. Here’s a directory across the US, and you can filter by state to find local businesses. Here’s a directory for restaurants in Philadelphia. (One of our favorites is Era, an Ethiopian restaurant / local bar in Fairmount!)
- Get out and vote at all local and national elections.
- Attend the Poor People’s Campaign’s virtual March on Washington on June 20.
If you have any ideas of how we could do better, or any ideas for how we could join forces, please contact us.