Graffiti by the People of Richmond, projection by Dustin Klein, photo by Alexis Delilah, RVA Magazine.
Like all of our colleagues, friends and families, we are appalled at the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others who continue to be taken from us.
While our core work is housing, we understand that systemic racism in America affects everything. It expresses itself in police brutality, mass incarceration, unequal access to jobs, to education, to economic opportunity, to housing and all of the other benefits of community that white people take for granted.
Together, our team is re-committing to listen and learn—but, most importantly, to act so that anti-racism is permanently core to our work. Specifically, we call on our white colleagues to join us in taking concrete steps beyond allyship and toward solidarity with our neighbors of color. We recommend these starting points:
10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship (via Mireille Cassandra Harper on Twitter)
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice (via Corinne Shutak on Medium)
Today, we're also donating to a pair of organizations providing invaluable services to the cause. First, to Reclaim the Block, a Minneapolis nonprofit dedicated to the prioritization of budget funds for community health and development over policing. And, to Color of Change, a nonprofit working at the national level to mobilize action campaigns for racial justice.
We encourage you to support the many grassroots and national organizations that are seeking to make America a fairer and better place for all.
We believe Blacks Lives Matter. We support the protesters in our streets. We pray their energy and beliefs will sustain them. Only through such action is change possible.
In solidarity,
Bob Adams
Erica Sims
Jonathan Knopf
Julia MacNelly
Eric Mai
Flora Valdes-Dapena
Nikki D'Adamo-Damery
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