Black lives matter.

Black history, culture, creativity, and joy matter. Black voices, leadership, and talent matter.

George Floyd was murdered and deserves justice. Every single person whose life was stolen from us through gratuitous racial violence and white supremacy deserves justice, including the lives taken in our own state. Our hearts, hands, and voices are in solidarity with those protesting in our communities and across our nation.

Kansans: We must not flinch from acknowledging the problematic and deadly historical and present realities of our nation, state, and local communities. Recognizing that our criminal justice system is rooted in anti-Blackness, racial violence, and white supremacy is essential to achieving true system reform.

Kansans and people across the U.S. must work together to transform this system into one that expels racial bias and eliminates the structures of white supremacy if we ever hope to uphold our virtue of “justice for all.” This means divesting from systems of incarceration and policing that’s increasingly militarized and instead investing in community-led initiatives, supports, and alternatives to imprisonment.

Black voices and issues must be elevated in spaces of power. Black-led movements and organizers across our state and country commit their time, energy, and vital work for Black lives in Kansas and all peoples’ interconnected liberation.

To stand in solidarity with those who have been doing the work, we’re asking that people invest in, support, and get involved with organizations including local bailout funds; local movements advancing the liberation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; the Black Lives Matter movement and its local affiliates; BYP100; Color of Change; and the list goes on.

We also ask that our community–especially White people–do the work to become actively anti-racist. Here are some helpful resources:

• “Resources and Tools Regarding Racism & Anti/Blackness (& How To Be a Better Ally”
• “Anti-Racism Resource for White People”

At Kansas Appleseed, we’re committed to our endeavors for thriving, inclusive, and just communities in ways that recognize and act on the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, ability, class, religion, and justice. We will recognize and reflect on our own privilege. We will continually listen, be held accountable, and do better when that reflection fails.

Anti-racism and anti-white supremacy must drive our work now and always.