As a staff of professionals and as a community of providers, ANCOR stands in solidarity with members of the Black community, who have had no choice but to spend the past several days insisting on the value of their own lives. Moreover, we grieve for the families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, David McAtee and the more than 8,000 Black lives extinguished by police brutality since 2013.
Trade associations like ours exist to give professionals in an industry the opportunity to identify with one another, to commune with one another, to coalesce with one another. For our particular association, we exist because full inclusion does not. As we reflect on the events of the past several days and read the news of protests germinating across the nation, we are reminded of the power and necessity to identify with others whose experiences are not our own, but are punctuated by familiar tragedy.
We acknowledge that the scourge of racism and white supremacy intensify injustice for our Black family members, friends and colleagues. We not only mourn the Black lives lost, but also grieve for the members of the Black community, many of whom are also part of our community. Our colleagues, our workforce, the people we support—the Black community is our community.
Still, many of us will never truly know the pain that African Americans regularly experience. Many of us will never live the experience of being excluded, marginalized and—in the moments when our nation is at its worst—killed, all because of who we are. We nevertheless identify with the families of Ahmaud and George and Breonna and Sean and David and far too many others whose lives have been taken.
And so, as we work to make sense of that which is senseless, we affirm that Black lives matter. We affirm that we see Black members of our community and of U.S. society. We affirm that injustice against Black people is a stain on us all. We affirm the voices of protestors in Minneapolis and Louisville and Indianapolis and DC and in countless cities around the globe. And, we affirm that we stand as ready allies in the significant work that lies ahead as we seek to heal from the pandemic of racism that has stymied our nation for centuries.