YWCA Southeastern MA extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of George Floyd. No words can express the hurt and sadness we feel. When does this end?

When do ALL OF US – BLACK, BROWN AND WHITE – say ENOUGH?

We have been living this for over 400 years. It is time for systemic change to stop institutional racism. Not a one-time, band-aid approach that we all talk about right now and forget about in a few weeks, but real, true, honest and open conversation, where together as a community and as a nation we can start to heal. We must have in-depth conversations, talk about the hurt, pain, trauma, be uncomfortable and really listen and hear one another.

We express our solidarity with activists, protestors, our YWCA colleagues in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul communities and throughout the nation, and all those who took to the streets to demand justice for the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, as well as countless others known and unknown, and to protest the perpetual, systemic racism and anti-Blackness that pervade our nation.

It takes all of us to make this happen, one by one, family by family, community by community. We commit ourselves to the work of racial justice. We will get up and continue to do the work until injustice is rooted out, until institutions are transformed, until the world sees women, girls, and people of color the way we do: Equal. Powerful. Unstoppable. We must hold each other accountable.

STRONG ALONE FEARLESS TOGETHER
ELIMINATE RACISM EMPOWER WOMEN
PEACE JUSTICE FREEDOM DIGNITY FOR ALL

Gail Fortes
Executive Director
YWCA Southeastern Massachusetts

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Join Us in Doing the Work of Anti-Racism

• Sign up at the link for virtual Community Conversations on antiracism and racial equity work. More information to come!
• Sign up at the link for YWCA SEMA’s monthly Racial Justice Book Club. Our first read will be Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism (2018)
• Visit Antiracism Resources to find podcasts, films, children’s books, and more to begin your anti-racism work at home.