FrameWorks Institute’s statement on the Uprisings of Spring 2020

Our country is facing a moment of reckoning.

Like so many others, we mourn the loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless individuals before them who have had their lives cut short by racism and the violence it brings.

We stand in solidarity with those who are protesting against the continued killing of Black people and the systems that enable such atrocities. We stand with all who are calling for these most recent episodes to be viewed in the context of our nation’s long, ongoing history of racism, white supremacy and the violence and trauma it inflicts. We join people demanding that we address structural racism across all of our institutions and systems—starting with the justice system, but not ending until we have made it possible for all Black people and other people of color to experience the best of what this country has to offer.

We at the FrameWorks Institute are committed to dismantling the systems that allow inequity and injustice to exist in any form. We recognize the remarkable power of language. We see some voices using their platform and privilege to vilify Black people and Black communities; delegitimize the free press; and spread misinformation to further sow discord and incite violence. We reject these antidemocratic messages. We recommit ourselves as partners to organizations and coalitions who are deploying the power of the pen, the pulpit, or the protest chant in service of a more just, more equitable, more inclusive nation.

We are all witnessing centuries of injustice and white supremacy bubbling up and boiling over. But we are also seeing what happens when we individually and collectively do not speak up and act for a society that allows us all, but particularly the most marginalized among us, to exist—safely, wholly, and freely. This lack of action has to stop now. Today.

We are here, with you, ready to create change.

The FrameWorks Institute