Together we rise, together we stand, and together we change. On behalf of the Worcester Together Coalition, comprising more than 100 individuals and organizations formed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we rise and we stand in condemnation of the brutal acts perpetrated by Minneapolis police officers in the murder of George Floyd. We stand in the name of countless Black lives lost at the hands of police and civil vigilantes and in the name of all Communities of Color that have and continue to experience institutional inequity and brutality. We seek to create and make change to shift the oppressive imbalances in our country in the name of all Communities of Color that have experienced profound loss including for George Floyd, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Sandra Bland, Botham Jean,  Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and for whom their families and communities have endured deep pain, anger, frustration, and fear because of systemic racism and inequity.

Silence is not an option.  Action is paramount.  Worcester Together has demonstrated our ability to act and respond in crisis through COVID-19.  Today, we speak aloud in disgust and with deep sorrow for our community and our country, but also to also leverage our collective and unified power to act and make change.   The devastating racial disparities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic are intrinsically related to our nation’s history of white supremacy and structural racism. It is a legacy that we must reject and dismantle.  As we seek to address the COVID-19 crisis and to build a fair and just “new normal” we commit ourselves to these principles in all that we do, both individually and collectively:

1. We will acknowledge the reality of white supremacism in our history and its insidious presence in our institutions, public school system, police department, community based organizations, and ways of doing business and will facilitate courageous conversations and frank discussion of the issues at hand as a community. We will recognize our inadvertent complicity the perpetuation of this injustice.

2. We will approach every initiative, policy or program that we undertake as an opportunity to dismantle racism. We will do this explicitly and embrace accountability for our results.

3. We will consistently and promptly identify, name, question, and actively resist and denounce policies in our criminal justice, law enforcement, education and health institutions that injure people of color and deprive them of the opportunity to participate fully in the life of our community.

4. We will center, elevate and defer to voices of People of Color and support the economic advancement of Communities of Color by using our collective purchasing power to support locally owned Black, Latino, and immigrant businesses.

We are fallible humans acting in the name humanity and cannot do this work alone. Please join us as we
work together to create equity, shape and change our community and our country’s course.

The Worcester Together Coalition.