We live in a time when it is all important for communities to come together to resist tyranny and advance a progressive agenda. Yet a just world for all of us is not possible when racism and oppression keep us divided. This can make us forget how closely connected we truly are.

Racism is present throughout all of our contemporary institutions and structures. Racism is devastating to people of color and is closely intertwined with all systems of oppression. It robs all of us – white people and people of color – of our humanity.

We have the opportunity and responsibility to show Ithaca, Tompkins County and the world what it means to take responsibility for our role as white people in these systems.

We stand for the dignity of the people murdered unjustly by police departments and treated as disposable commodities by the system of mass incarceration. We stand for accountability of our police, politicians, the corporate elite, and one another. We act collectively and publicly to break white silence. We learn from the long history of people of color and white people who struggled for ending all systems of oppression. We play our role in building a powerful multiracial majority for justice and liberation. We show up.