The Action Alliance explicitly denounces the senseless and unjust murders of Black people at the hands of law enforcement, as well as the continued threats against their lives and well-being for simply existing in this nation. Pain, sadness, anger, frustration, exhaustion, and fear are only a few of the words to describe the heaviness that sits on our hearts as we continue to learn of more Black lives being stolen by police brutality, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, George Floyd, all those who came before, and all those who may come after.
As advocates for survivors of sexual and domestic violence, we know too well the tactics of oppression used by people to control and abuse partners and family members and see those same tactics replicated time and again by the police to control and abuse neighborhoods where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) reside. These tactics include intimidation, physical and sexual violence, and gaslighting through minimizing, denying, and victim-blaming.
Racism and white supremacy have been used for centuries to reinforce sexual and domestic violence; therefore, work to achieve racial justice is inextricably linked to the work to eradicate sexual and domestic violence. The Action Alliance commits to centering racial, reproductive, and economic justice in our efforts to achieve gender justice. This requires us to educate ourselves and others about the real-life impacts that violence has on BIPOC communities. It requires that we continue to learn how white supremacy and white complacency perpetuates, upholds, and reinforces that violence. It asks us to speak up and speak out when we see these systems at work in our families, workplaces, government, places of worship, community spaces, neighborhoods, and selves. It requires deliberate, intentional, and constant action.
When we center racial justice — when we create systems that provide shelter, food, mental and physical healthcare, livable wages, and educational access to BIPOC communities — we all are more likely to flourish. The ability for BIPOC families and communities to thrive is intrinsically tied to thriving for all of us.
Now is a time to lean into the discomfort of acknowledging the ways that white supremacy and racial inequalities have created opportunities for many, even in our own field of work, and placed barriers in front of others. In this moment, we are called to re-examine the ways in which we contribute to injustice, including our movement’s investment in systems of policing and incarceration which often increase violence and trauma, rather than reduce it.
Black lives are beautiful and sacred. Black lives unequivocally matter. As a coalition, we must acknowledge our complicity in upholding violent systems—systems that refuse to see the beauty and sacredness of Black lives—and do the work necessary to repair.
We call in Virginia’s Sexual & Domestic Violence Agencies to join us. We call in our fellow advocates to account for the ways in which our movement has failed BIPOC survivors and to organize in the service of listening to and meeting the needs of BIPOC survivors and communities. We call in our fellow advocates to ensure that survivors have access to voting and to BIPOC-led resources in their communities.
We ask all who support the idea of racial justice to help make it a reality by:
- Supporting BIPOC-led organizers and organizations working for justice and liberation like Southerners on New Ground, SisterSong, and Black Lives Matter;
- Supporting efforts to ensure full participation in our democratic processes, like New Virginia Majority;
- Assisting with voter registration efforts and advocating for full access to absentee ballots so people may vote without fear of becoming sick; and
- Continuing to learn and teach others about the fight for racial justice in this country.
We recommit to amplifying and centering Black voices as well as other marginalized communities. We recommit to deconstructing the many ways in which we uphold and embolden white supremacist ideology, and actively working to dismantle them. The voices of Black and brown people will be silenced no more. We will amplify and center those voices in all we do and all we are. We encourage you to lean into the discomfort with us. We choose to do the work of racial justice every day. We will hold each other up as we do this work together. Change must come swiftly, and just like peace, change begins at home.
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