We stand in solidarity with the Black community and #BlackLivesMatter.
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks reflect the institutionalized, structural racism that we have yet to truly address as a nation.
We commit to the long-term work of dismantling White supremacy and anti-Blackness, understanding that it is built into our systems and policies. These systems were not built by all of us, they do not serve all of us, and they require all of us to transform them.
In this moment, we are also deeply aware that Black Feminism liberates all of us. We reaffirm our commitments to follow the lead of, partner with, act alongside, and in other ways support the leadership of Black womxn and Black feminists. We are especially grateful to the activists at the heart of Black Lives Matter and The Movement for Black Lives.
We also know that we have much more work to do.
Toward that end, we commit to:
- Work together through the Adaway Group’s course on Whiteness at Work to learn more ways to confront White supremacy, and then put new practices into action in our work.
- Be more vocal about racial justice and our support of Black womxn leaders, and do this especially when we engage with people who do not already share our values.
- Actively follow and learn from Black feminist organizations. We are learning from the work of Assata’s Daughters, a Black woman-led, young person-directed organization rooted in the Black Radical Tradition that organizes young Black people in Chicago—and The BYP100, a queer Black feminist-led network of young activists focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and education.
- If we co-produce another Entrepreneurial Feminist Forum, in addition to continuing to feature foundational talks and workshops from BIPOC thinkers, create a steering committee that is 50% BIPOC womxn to reflect our Canadian and US-based community of entrepreneurial feminists.
- Continuing to use our voices for change as allies and collaborators, which includes learning when to step back and listen to Black voices who are leading the work.
What we believe:
- We understand that all systems of oppression—especially White supremacy, settler colonialism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, nativism, and capitalism—reflect the same fundamental lie: that some humans are better than others, deserve more than others, and should profit by controlling and taking from others. We can use our understanding of gendered, racialized, and classed dynamics to transform work for a world where all people can flourish.
- The feminism that we aim to practice is radically inclusive, expansive, and multi-dimensional. This feminism guides us to confront all forms of oppression, recognizing that gendered oppression offers us insights that can help us challenge and change illegitimate systems of power everywhere.
- In this moment, we must be explicit about the ways that our radically inclusive feminism calls us to join with intersectional #BlackFeminist initiatives directed against White supremacy. We hold ourselves responsible to work within our own local communities, professional relationships, and personal relationships to confront White supremacy.
- Businesses can be sites of social change and social justice, if we choose to make them so. Because our focus is on feminist business practice, we challenge systems of oppression as they are made manifest in our work, our organizations, and in the economy.
We realize that you may not have heard from us in a while. We have been actively engaged in building inclusive, feminist, anti-racist businesses and organizations. We are writing now because we want to be explicit about our commitments and all that we are still learning.
Please join us in making and keeping commitments to dismantle White supremacy, to end anti-Black racism, and to promote racial justice.
In solidarity,
CV Harquail and Lex Schroeder