April 14, 2021 | By: Akonadi Foundation
“Black people are being killed. Anti Blackness and white supremacy are the assailants”
These were our words just one year ago when the world witnessed the state murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many more Black people.
This week, just 10 miles from where Derek Chauvin is on trial for killing George Floyd, Brooklyn Center police shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright. We say his name. As we mourn yet another life lost to reprehensible police violence, we reiterate our call to defend Black lives.
At Akonadi, a family foundation founded over two decades ago with the distinct goal of funding racial justice movements, we are committed to doing all we can to fight the beast that is white supremacy. For us, that means listening to courageous organizers working with communities harmed by state violence, following their vision and, most importantly, resourcing their efforts. These organizations and communities are demanding for philanthropy to step up and accelerate our funding efforts to end the carceral state and its deadly byproduct–state sanctioned violence. We must not only listen, but we must act.
We join with organizers in the continued push to transform racist systems, policies and practices. We cannot accept Black people dying at the hands of police officers as the status quo any longer. We must rethink the role of police, rethink our investments in communities, and rethink what safety means and for whom. We must work for real systemic change to disempower law enforcement and create a system that supports accountability and safety and justice for everyone.
This will be—and has been—long, hard work. The road to freedom is not easy or swift. But we must continue to fight for liberation and our collective freedom. We must commit to it today, and we must recommit each year until we reach our goal.
