A Message of Solidarity Against Racial Violence & Inequity

ESD Global Inc. stands in solidarity with members of the Black community and communities of color as we mourn and resist the deadly impact of deeply entrenched systemic inequities. We want to address the racial injustice that is deeply rooted in our society and unite our efforts to seek equality, understanding and change.

Large demonstrations of outrage and opposition to racism and violence are taking place in many places in the world. In the US, we are grieving and shaken by the recent events surrounding the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and the racially driven assault on Christian Cooper. These inequities are brought into clear focus by the videos on social media which now allow all of us to bear witness to the excessive force that too many Police officers use against Black and Brown Americans. Over the past 12 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic our Black community members have died at more than twice the rate of White community members in the US. These pandemic deaths represent the unequal burden that communities of color shoulder as essential workers who at the same time face barriers to accessing healthcare.

It’s time for change. It’s time for us to stand together and have these difficult conversations. ESD Global Inc. envisions a world where people can live safe, violence-free lives. Clearly, we all have work to do to make that vision a reality. We support the right of our community members of color to protest injustice and to call us all to action now to end injustice. We call on the White members of our community, and all of us with access to privilege, to use the power we have to make change now. For society to change requires large numbers of us to move into vocal, active, intelligent, and caring opposition to systemic oppression and inequality.

We are a community of violence prevention educators and allies who offer the tools of Empowerment Self-Defense to prevent gender-based violence, to prevent racially based violence, to prevent violence. We train to use the tools of ESD on our own behalf and to use them as allies and active bystanders on behalf of others. We offer this webinar led by ESD Global community member Ashlee Abraham on Microagressions: from Self to Training as a resource to our community with this self-test of implicit bias.

ESD Global Inc. is committed to growing our capacity to bring the tools of anti-racism work into our organization, into our instructor training programs and into our professional community. With humility we ask the people of color in our community who lead anti-racism work to share your hard-won wisdom and understanding to help guide us. Together we can deconstruct the system of inequity and build a world where people can live safe, lives free from racial and gender-based violence.

Sincerely,

The Staff and Board of ESD Global Inc.