How many more times and ways can we say: “Enough is enough!” “We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired!” Change must happen NOW!
Hundreds of years of theft and deeply rooted injustice must stop. Racist systems and structures must be transformed with justice and equity for all. Racism and police brutality are symptoms of the real disease of “economic inequality” which must be addressed now.
But let’s not turn to the usual suspects and methods that have failed our communities in the past. Let’s listen to voices that have not been heard before, and out of the box ideas that have not been tried. Let’s have Black Community members at tables of discussions and decisions about what is best for their communities. Let’s talk about the massive expenditure needed in Black Communities to bring about community wealth and power. Let’s work together with all people of good will to make real changes for equal justice – equal access to possibility, success and safety building on our hopes for the future.
Black Communities pay taxes but see little of their tax dollars coming back to invest in their own communities. Beyond defunding police, let’s look at how ALL public and private resources are allocated with an eye toward equity. Let’s talk about funds that are set aside for a community to determine how they are to be spent. Our communities know best how to care for our members and build on the current assets that our communities already possess.
Then let’s take action that not only reforms but transforms the systems and structures that have maintained white privilege and Black and Brown Communities in generational poverty. Change must happen NOW!
The Communities of Concern Commission is a coalition of organizations dedicated to addressing the impacts of poverty in our various communities of color and poor rural communities.
“Get your knee off our necks!”
Rev. Al Sharpton, George Floyd Memorial, June 4, 2020