We commit to continuing the work of dismantling all of the ways that racism and inequality operate in our lives, in our communities, and in our institutions.
The Staff and Board at the Sexual Assault Resource Agency are grieved by the on-going inequity and violence against People of Color in our nation. We stand with you in solidarity. We struggle to express our distress about the senseless death of another unarmed Black citizen. We say no to any social system that marginalizes the lives and voices of our Black and Brown community members. We commit to continuing the work of dismantling all of the ways that racism and inequality operate in our lives, in our communities, and in our institutions. We commit to centering the voices of every person who has been marginalized.
We also recognize that our country has a long history of racial injustice. We encourage our supporters to recognize the connections between sexual violence, interpersonal violence, and racial violence.
Silence is its own message, and we do not want to remain silent. As we have adapted to our current pandemic, we recognize that health disparities are glaringly evident. Communities of color are being impacted in much more significant ways and with stark statistics of racial health inequities.
For nearly the past 2 years, we at SARA have participated in a state-wide project called the Underserved Populations Learning Collaborative (UPLC). As part of the UPLC, we have spent considerable time doing self-examination of our own biases as well as looking at how we can improve access to our agency with our community’s underserved populations.
Gender justice is supported by movements to build racial justice. We share this graphic from the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance.
SARA carries as its vision a community free from sexual violence. Advocacy is interconnected. If we are to end sexual violence, we must work for safety for everyone, especially those impacted by inequity in our nation.