03 Jun 2020 |
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The tragic events over the past several weeks – the unfathomable deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, as well as countless others before them including Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Sandra Bland – have highlighted the white supremacy and anti-Black racism that has been embedded in the very foundation of our country. The state-sanctioned violence we continue to see perpetrated against Black people has been occurring for hundreds of years, and many of us have stood silent for too long. We must all do better and take concrete action to support Black and Brown communities.
As an organization, the pursuit of racial equity is critical to Launch as we work to eliminate the opportunity gaps caused by historical and on-going systemic biases. We acknowledge the impact of inequities and injustices towards all people of color, including Black and African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinx, and Asian-Americans – and at this moment, we want to be unequivocally clear in our message to our families and community.
At Launch, Black Lives Matter.
At Launch, we stand in solidarity with all members of our Black community and with those joining the fight for racial justice.
At Launch, we will not tolerate racism or racial harassment against any individual in our organization.
Launch’s mission is to lead the charge to brilliant outcomes for the children of our community by ensuring equitable access to the highest quality learning and care. We are deeply committed to living this mission through our values. Living our mission means speaking up against the individual and institutionalized trauma Black communities experience every day.
It can be difficult for white parents to know how to begin conversations around racism, equity, and injustice. Children see what is going on in the world around them, and look to us to help understand. As many of us have taken on the role of teacher in our children’s lives during this pandemic, it is up to us to provide child-centered opportunities to engage in anti-racist learning. As an agency whose focus is supporting the whole child, we wanted to share some resources to help have these conversations.
- Children’s Books to Support Conversations on Race, Racism and Resistance
- Race Conscious Children’s Books
- Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners
- The Brown Bookshelf
- Talking Race with Young Children (NPR)
- Raising White Kids by Dr. Jennifer Harvey and her podcast episode on “Integrated Schools”
- How to Talk to Kids about Race and Racism
- Center for Racial Justice in Education
- Black Lives Matter
This list is by no means comprehensive, and we welcome any additional suggestions our community may have.
To be silent is to be complicit. Silence is not an option. Simply sending a message of solidarity is not enough. We know that we have more to do around racial equity and fighting anti-Blackness in our organization and in our community. We are committed to doing the uncomfortable work of examining and challenging our internal biases as well as our agency’s systemic policies and practices that support white supremacy and anti-Blackness. We pledge to educate ourselves, listen more, do better, speak up in the face of injustice, and foster a space where everyone is seen, heard, and valued. Deepening our racial equity work will continue to be a major focus of Launch going forward and we invite you to join us in this work.
In solidarity,
The Launch Leadership Team
