To our Safe & Sound community:
There comes a time when we must acknowledge we are not doing enough. We must do more. We must stand together to call for justice and the end of racial oppression. We are angry, exhausted, and saddened — by systemic racism forcing generations of Americans to live in fear; by racist attacks, police brutality and the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and far too many before them; the deaths of Mario Woods, Jessica Williams, and far too many others at the hands of San Francisco’s own police department.
These are Our Clients. Our Partners. Our Colleagues. Our Families. Us. Racism devastates Our Community. The same structural and institutional racism that enables violence against Black Americans is responsible for higher mortality among Black Americans with COVID-19.
We must confront the systems we have created that yield the results we are seeing — from education to child welfare; from health care to our justice system; from our housing system to our economy. We must talk about the disparities that children of color face: being removed from their families and placed into foster care at a disproportionate rate; being sent to prison at higher rates; unequal access to quality education that leaves too many children behind; inequities in housing, health care, employment; fear of the very people authorized to protect them.
Safe & Sound believes that Black Lives Matter, and therefore, seeks to create a world where all children are safe, all families are strong, and all communities are sound. We seek to end child abuse. To do so, we actively commit to do our part to end racism and all forms of oppression wherever we see it.
Safe & Sound is a family. We are every race, ethnicity, orientation, gender, generation, and ability. Those of us who have had the luxury of deferring can no longer put off having an authentic and difficult conversation about the realities of systemic racism and inequities permeating our culture and communities. This is a moment to care for one another, create intentional spaces for critical conversations about our own action and inaction, and commit to taking responsibility to combat hate and discrimination.
This isn’t a problem we can solve overnight. But it is time to start, and we are committed to doing the work.
The Safe & Sound team has compiled these resources to help educate and inspire a greater understanding and forge a path forward.
Resources to Watch:
Resources to Listen To:
Resources to Read:
Resources to Read to Support Children in Understanding Race, Racism and Resistance
Opportunities to Give/Donate