Remembering George Floyd:
A Statement that Nails It
Many organizations have made statements and commitments in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Here is one, in my opinion, that nails it. It’s from the Why Not Theatre.
We are not making
a statement.
We are making a
vow, a public commitment, to our values and our feelings in order to hold
ourselves accountable, and for you, the community to hold us accountable, as
colleagues and friends.
We are not okay.
Our colleagues are not okay.
The atrocious,
inhumane murders of Black people at the hands of police officers in both Canada
and the US are exemplary of the racism that affects the lives of Black people
every day. This racist system is inextricably embedded in our arts sector and
in the people who live and work within it, and it is on us all to rise and address
these racist beliefs head on.
To our diverse
Black communities: we stand beside you, we grieve with you, and we commit to
dismantling the systems of power in the pursuit of liberation.
To our diverse
Indigenous communities: we see you, and we see how this violence is committed
against your communities everyday. We know you are hurting and we reaffirm our
commitment to your liberation through our actions.
To our white
colleagues. White supremacy is real. You are a part of it and you need to
actively engage in these conversations, which you have been asked to engage in,
and not prepared yourselves for. A statement is not enough, each one of you has
enacted harm and you need to find ways to actively address and dismantle the
systems that keep Black, Brown, Indigenous and racialized people excluded from
society.
People of colour
we know you hurt too, and while you suffer you must rise above this pain and
support our Black brothers, sisters, and non-binary family. People of colour
benefit and perpetuate anti-Black racism through our actions and inactions. We
need to address anti-Black racist views in our own communities, with our own
people and we all have a lot of work to do to challenge our comforts and
assumptions, to stop appropriating Black culture, and to stop supporting white
systems of power that allow us to thrive and Black people and Indigenous people
to continue to be harmed, ignored, disregarded, disrespected and sadly, too
often, murdered.
At Why Not, we
are starting with ourselves. As a company largely composed of racialized
people, and that works with and supports the voices of BIPOC artists, this
moment demands that we rise up and be better allies.
As of this week,
we have begun an ongoing series of conversations within our staff around anti-Black
and anti-Indigenous blindspots, and racism within our workplace and ourselves,
beginning with an examination of our own individual positionalities. We believe
in living our values and are making the most important change we can, change
within ourselves.
These
conversations will ask us to face our own privileges and how we have benefited
and upheld systems of white supremacy. We will do the work to bring our white
colleagues into these conversations and encourage them to do the work. And
bring in our South Asian, Asian, and racialized colleagues to ask the same of
themselves.
We affirm our
commitment to doing the work to better support Indigenous artists, voices and
bodies. We affirm our commitment to doing the work to support Black artists,
voices and bodies.
In Solidarity.
In Solidarity.
