Dear CWIP Members and Friends,
For many of us, it is difficult to make sense of the world right now. Just as we were potentially turning the corner and cautiously reopening after months of quarantine due to COVID-19, we were once again confronted by the wrongful death of an unarmed Black man at the hands of law enforcement. The ensuing unrest and uprisings serve as testimony not only to the horrific nature of what happened to George Floyd but also to what happens every single day, in communities of color all across the country. Both COVID-19 and the series of incidents resulting in the loss of Black lives over the last few weeks have laid bare the systemic inequities in our nation for all to see. Our communities are hurt and grieving.
CWIP’s Vision is to build an equitable, inclusive, and connected social sector, and CWIP’s Racial Equity & Social Justice Committee in particular is committed to the work of advancing justice. We aim to educate, inform, and provide support to all our members on matters of equity and social justice AND to help build strong White partners. Communities of color, women of color, cannot do this work on their own. As Fannie Lou Hamer once said, “nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
As a Board of Directors, we are convicted that words alone are not a sufficient response. We are committed to rooting out systemic racism in our professional and personal lives and ask you to join us as we put our words into action. In the coming weeks, we look forward to sharing programming with you that we hope will provide you with a deeper understanding of yourself and others, solace, clarity of purpose, and direction. We remember that in the words of Michelle Obama: “It’s up to all of us – Black, White, everyone – no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it (racism) out.”