From the Chair

The debt is too great.

​

I have been taking time to digest all that has happened over the last few weeks, in particular noting how it directly ties to what has happened to black people in this country over the last 400 years. This country was built on the backs of black men, women and children. The basis of our capitalist economy is the foundation of free labor from an enslaved people. That which was paid in human labor has never been returned or compensated. And above all, the events over the last few weeks illustrate that the bill for that free labor is long past due. 

​

The disease that plagues us is an economy built on a foundation of slavery. The disease is a misallocation of assets, and the interest that is still being earned by the members of the dominant society is visible in its privilege. That, let me be clear,  is the reason black men, women and children are being killed. 

​

It’s the money.

 

The cure is a systemic and wide reaching correction towards an equitable allocation of assets. The cure, in other words, is to become builders of our own economy. Many of the recent statements and commitments of money shared by concerned corporations or well-intentioned organizations have been gratifying and hopeful. However, even combined, they fall far short of covering the debt that is owed much less what would be needed to create a truly equitable allocation of assets. It is, however, a start. 

​

I hope you’ll join us in this movement to build a lasting cure, a just and vibrant economy that once and for all provides a dignified place and an authentic salve to those who have long been oppressed, ignored and killed. 

​

We can and will do better, for ourselves, in unity.