“Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Fifty-three years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King addressed Stanford University with his “The Other America” speech. The words above particularly stick with our team. For decades, we have borne witness to repeated, horrific tragedies. The past few weeks were no different – the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd shook us to our core.
The global protests in the streets are a righteous reaction to years of the racism, violence, and systemic oppression faced by Black Americans in the U.S. every day. We mourn yet again for the loss of Black lives in America. We stand in solidarity with the Black community and share in their grief. America has failed to hear the pain of communities of color.
While words are meaningful, action is essential. We are doing what we can as a team at Higher Ground Labs. We are marching. We are donating. We are organizing. And we are all grieving.
Today, we are matching all donations that members of our staff make to organizations fighting on the ground at this moment. We are doing our best to lift up technology being used by the Black community to fight for systemic change. We remain committed to making our programming diverse, intersectional, and purposeful in meeting this moment and the challenges to come. We are working on processes to follow hiring and investing practices that are inclusive and accessible to all candidates. We are learning how to further be effective supporters, allies, and activists in the fight for justice.
Here are some resources our founders have aggregated that have helped us take action now:
- Black Lives Matter: Ways You Can Help
- OpenField compiled resources for protestors
- Read this blog post from Mobilize on ways to organize against racism and injustice
- Organizations working on COVID response and racial justice, but lacking the resources for an advocacy and civic engagement platform, can apply to the New/Mode accessibility fund
- Sign-up for this Wethos event: Learning & leading in times of trauma: how to establish an anti-racist workplace workshop
- Sign-up for these SameSide events:
