Throughout American history, discrimination has not only been ever present, but era-defining. In each of those eras, however, there have been pivotal moments where activists organized, made themselves louder and more visible than the discrimination to enact real change.
Commonfund is aware of the discrimination that continues to exist within the fabric of American society today. Thus, Commonfund wants to lead the charge on self-education.
We ask: how can we all be a force for positive change? How does one even begin the
education to be that positive change? We know that it can, for many, begin with exposure, with the humanizing power of a story.
ABOUT THE RESOURCE GUIDE
This resource guide came to fruition in 2020, under the coordination of the Commonfund Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of the police as well Ahmaud Arbery’s death as a result of a hate crime. Though we recognize that protests against violence are not new to the Black community, Commonfund was moved by the global solidarity. We paid attention.
As Commonfund undertook the work of diversity, we began to understand just how interconnected one form of oppression is to another. We saw how all communities had to fight for their right to personhood. We saw how Asian Americans sprung to action with #StopAsianHate. We saw how women took back their power with the #MeToo movement, and how they used the Women’s March to not only speak on women’s issues, but to amplify women who were impacted by multiple forms of marginalization due to their various, intersecting identities.
This resource guide began as a way to inform ourselves in light the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and it has grown to become a way for all of us to become educated on the cultural richness of many communities, on the issues they face, and on the projects that matter to them.
That is why we are updating and will continue to update our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resource Guide on a regular basis to expand upon resources that support multiple communities.