As a company, we have spent a lot of time in the last week reflecting on what has happened. It is a struggle to know what to say or even how to say what we fear, understand, and hope. We felt called to try and express our shared pain and respect for our country and neighbors. The following is our attempt to stand for peace.
Our hearts are saddened by the events of this last week – and the entire year.
Horrific tragedy has put a lens on terrible suffering that exists out of sight. But shared, world-wide grief has given us an opportunity to come together for positive change like never before. More than 350k+ deaths world-wide from COVID-19 have made us all keenly aware of the pain that comes from losing the ones we love. Ethnicity does not shield loss nor its effects.
Because of our shared loss and grief, we can all empathize with what has happened to George Floyd.
Together, we have a responsibility to denounce racism and hate. Together, we have a responsibility to fix it. We can’t let this tragedy divide us farther. If it does, it will be the shared failure and shame of all Americans.
More than 700k people of the United States died 150 fifty years ago. Thousands more have died in the decades since for the cause of freedom and equality. How many more do we need to see fall before we recognize that everyone needs to be a part of the solution?
Simply joining one side of the protest doesn’t solve anything.
We have all seen and felt enough death.
We can use 2020 to make real, positive change — but only if we come together.
Let us find purpose in what we have all experienced: to help understand, recognize, and find common ground. Because it is our moral duty, and our ultimate test, to make the world a better place for our children.
It can’t wait for elections or trending videos. It won’t come from riots or violence.
It only happens when we each decide to respect each other.
