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RHD Response to Racism

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June 4, 2020

Resources for Human Development is outraged and deeply saddened by the violence committed against George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. What happened to George Floyd, and so many others, was not the result of a “bad apple” but the result of a system that has been intentionally built to thrive on white supremacy. Black communities are traumatized by deeply rooted systemic racism, the continuation of racially disparate police violence, and the injustices of due process. As a trauma-informed organization, we need to treat these disparities for what they are: a public health crisis.

At RHD, we respect the dignity and worth of every individual, we believe each of us are of equal human worth, and we believe our diversity provides richness to our culture. Built on its core values and driven by a desire to affect social change since 1970, RHD has been delivering the highest quality of services to people of all abilities. RHD takes pride in its diversity and exists to benefit all citizens.

We are honored to stand with those who are actively fighting to end oppression, discrimination, and working to dismantle white supremacy. Today, RHD is reaffirming its commitment to holding ourselves accountable to anti-racist work within our own organization, business practices, and activism, and call on our supporters, funders, and everyone in the RHD community to do the same.

While it is critical to listen to and center the voices of Black and Brown Americans during this fight, we want to encourage everyone to take action. We urge white Americans to do the work to understand their own roles in benefiting from white privilege and how to be actively anti-racist. We know that standing up for racial justice can take many forms. Below we have included a few links that we hope you will use in your journey of creating an inclusive environment and fighting for justice and humanity for Black and Brown lives.

As we continue the work together to end discrimination, we must continue to be kind to one another and to love each other with deep empathy for our differences to better understand how similar we all are. We must continue to call each other “in” as we have difficult and uncomfortable conversations. We must continue to support our Black and Brown friends, family members, and co-workers as they experience trauma after trauma. And we must continue to band together to create real change and real justice in our communities and our country.

 

 

Anti-Asian Resources

For more than five decades, RHD has been driven by a desire to affect social change, including working to eradicate hate. We take pride in our diversity and exist to benefit all citizens. Our commitment to fighting racial injustice is unwavering. The reprehensible surge in violence against Asian Americans, including the shootings at Asian businesses in Atlanta, must be stopped. If you want to be part of the solution, we’ve compiled a list of anti-racist resources to educate, empower, and inspire social change in support of our Asian American brothers and sisters. Please utilize it and pass it on.