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Regarding the George Floyd murder verdict

Regarding the George Floyd murder verdict

The conviction of George Floyd’s murderer is a significant event.

It signifies that America is capable of recognizing injustice towards Black and Brown people and is capable of focusing attention and other resources to right wrongs.

It signifies a precedent has been set that, when future injustices occur, accountability will be expected.

However, what it does not signify is that we have fixed the problem; this single instance of accountability is not the same as justice.

This small step provides hope but does not address previous injustices, such as Breonna Taylor’s killers not being indicted, nor does it address policies that facilitate on-going acts of violence against Black and Brown people.

What the conviction signifies is that there is much more work to be done but it is possible to make changes that create a better world where people can safely be their authentic selves.

This is a very large lift, requiring many hands. Anti-racism work starts within ourselves, within our homes, within our communities. With each passing day, we have an opportunity to move this work forward. Actions include educating, advocating, and listening. Though the work is on-going, we must persist and continue on because lives hang in the balance.

We made a commitment to centering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at Trail Blazers. In a few days we will be sharing some of the work we have started over the past year to move closer to this goal. We also continue to invite you to be a part of this work and help us to create a diverse, equitable, inclusive world where people feel they belong.


Riel Peerbooms

Executive Director

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our position on george floyd and commitment to doing better

our position on george floyd and commitment to doing better

We watched the murder of George Floyd in horror and are now seeing the response of a society that can’t agree on simple facts: this violence was unjustifiable and no human being should ever be treated like this. That these simple facts are not widely accepted is shocking and we cannot be silent.

 

We jeopardize lives with regularity (both fatally, like George Floyd, and non-fatally, like Christian Cooper, a birdwatcher protecting nature in NYC’s Central Park) when we continue to support systemic structures that give a disproportionate amount of power to some groups over others. This includes failing to recognize and identify these systems as problematic; if they aren’t recognized by everyone, they certainly aren’t being worked on by everyone. We as a society fail.

 

So we ask ourselves here at Trail Blazers, “Do we fully recognize these structures? Do we actively work against them as best we can?” When we completed our Strategic Plan this past winter, we affirmed the principles and the values at the root of our 133-year history. In the last few days, it was to those very principles and values that we went first, in order to respond to these atrocities. Two stand out:

· Diversity and Belonging as a program pillar. Bringing people from all walks of life together has always been central to our work. It is essential to spend time with people who you think are not like you, so you can find out how much they are and celebrate differences where they exist.
· Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as an overarching lens. The development of our Strategic Plan led us to one main realization: DEI should be the lens through which everything is considered at Trail Blazers.

 

And yet, at this moment, it is painfully clear that this is not enough to push us to where we need to be.

 

It is not enough for us to denounce racism; Trail Blazers must become a truly anti-racist organization. Being “not racist” and being actively “anti-racist” are not the same; one resource for learning the difference is here. There is a lot of work we all still have to do here at Trail Blazers. We are recommitting to this work to become truly anti-racist, in all its facets. We are also recommitting to the work of ensuring we actively support other marginalized communities as well. In the next few weeks, months, and years, we will double down on understanding how this plays out in our lives and how this shows up in the work we do. This will be organization-wide, from staff to board members. We will challenge ourselves, and you, to grow in our ability to understand our responsibilities, to condemn violence and aggression toward communities of color and other marginalized communities. Finally, to examine and address systems and policies that create inequality. This is on-going, continual work.

 

The community work that camps and after school programs, like Trail Blazers, do is invaluable in this fight but we need to do better in order to make enduring change. We believe in young people, we know they are never too young to learn about our world and learn how to be a positive influence in it. Below are resources we will be sharing with our families. We invite you to share with your own families and communities and join us in this mission. If you have additional resources, we invite you to share them with us.

 

Sesame Street Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism Town Hall this Saturday at 10 am ET:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/cnn-sesame-street-standing-up-to-racism/index.html

 

Talking Race with Young Children from NPR and Sesame Street:

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/24/716700866/talking-race-with-young-children

 

Books to help you explain racism and protests to your kids:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/parenting/kids-books-racism-protest.html

 

Additional resources on talking to kids about racism and justice:

https://docs.google.com/document/u/2/d/1s0lCA3FlulVhK6DFE2d3uYCipc6ApY8Gn2rMwm6fYqw/mobilebasic?pli=1

 

We are in this fight together.

 

On behalf of our Board of Trustees and our staff, we hope that you are safe from harm, that you weather the ongoing COVID-19 challenges, and that we emerge as a better and stronger society.

Riel Peerbooms, MSW
Executive Director

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an important message from trail blazers on indigenous people’s day

an important message from trail blazers on indigenous people’s day

When we released our Strategic Plan (re-read it here) this past winter, we made DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and Transparency two of the four lenses through which we will be examining all our practices as we work to be a ”Best in Class” organization.

 

In June, after George Floyd’s murder, we released a statement (re-read it here) in which we recommitted to ensuring our practices facilitated our beliefs. Since then, we have brought DEI to the forefront and made it our primary lens, ensuring that we do the work required to become a truly anti-racist organization. Guided by our newly engaged DEI Committee, we have been reviewing our future plans as well as our previous practices for blind spots and areas for correction. It is in the vein of Transparency that we share today’s update on our DEI practices.

 

Today, on Indigenous People’s Day, we are publicly recognizing the ways in which our camp practices have appropriated the traditions, names, and practices of Indigenous Peoples, from the names of some of our smallcamp groups, to the use of the name “powwow” for our end of day debrief, to the design of our Value Catcher.

 

We recognize the need to address and correct this and have already done some of the initial work of retiring some of these practices. We are also examining other restorative actions, guided by the DEI Committee. This includes a Land Acknowledgement, a formal statement that recognizes and respects Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories. Learn more about Land Acknowledgements here. More work is needed and we will continue to share updates.

 

We are committed to continually learning and rectifying in order to help create a truly equitable and just world. Also, we ask you to join us and to continue to hold us accountable to this promise.

 

On behalf of our Board of Trustees and our staff, thanks for being a part of our Trail Blazers family and doing this work with us.

 

Riel Peerbooms, MSW
Executive Director

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regarding the january 6 capitol attack

regarding the january 6 capitol attack

Like many of you, I watched in anger as yesterday’s riots unfolded at the Capitol. I spent the evening, and deep into the night, listening to government representatives respond and recalibrate how they should address what they just experienced. Over and over, they highlighted the notion of American values. In reflecting on the event, I was left with the question, “What are our values? What does this mean today, in this moment?”

 

More appalling than the actions we witnessed are the sentiments they represent. Underpinning yesterday’s events were privilege, a sense of a right to violence, disrespect for law and order and a stunning lack of leadership that fomented and sanctioned this entitlement and invincibility. Yesterday also emphasizes and highlights the unnecessary violence against communities of color, who have actual cause to protest: the discrepancies between the policing of different groups could not have been more stark. I am hardly the first to ask what the law enforcement response to a majority Black or Brown crowd would have looked like. We all know the answer. This is white privilege in its most egregious form.

 

Building Values for Life has long been the Trail Blazers tagline. We believe that all children should be afforded the opportunity to develop the skills and values required to become productive and conscientious citizens. The most basic of these values and skills – kindness, respect and civility, and valuing different cultures and backgrounds – appear to be lost in our national discourse and politics.

 

I ask myself, both as a parent and as the leader of an organization that is built specifically on those values, how can we expect to teach our children values that the world does not seem to prioritize? Our kids hear the empty words and statements that so often follow tragic events such as these, and they are not fooled.

 

Over the last few years, we have seen a world evolve where every opinion, every statement, every action, is given equal heft. We don’t believe this is the correct approach, nor the approach our children deserve. Some choices are clearly kinder than others. Some choices are clearly safer than others. Some behaviors are clearly better than others. Some words are true, while others are not. We still believe these values matter.

 

During a time when our leaders, including our incumbent president, eschew these values, we are re-affirming our mission to ensure that children see these values lived out. We will continue to lead with kindness, with tolerance, with truth. To help young people build values for life, to take youth outside to help them grow within. We invite you to participate in this work. The New York City Department of Education released tools to help educators support young people in learning about and understanding the attack. You can find them HERE.

 

We certainly hope there are better days ahead. Our optimism is rooted not in empty rhetoric but by the work we are committing to doing.

 

Riel Peerbooms, MSW
Executive Director

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resources for children to learn about martin luther king, jr. and civil rights in 2021

resources for children to learn about martin luther king, jr. and civil rights in 2021

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

A commitment to being actively anti-racist begins with education, which is a continual and on-going effort to improve one’s ability to comprehend our world and our role in it. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., we are sharing a starter list of resources for all ages and all learning styles. We invite you to share these resources. We also invite you to share additional resources with us that should be added to this list; we are fully aware that this list is far from exhaustive and we welcome opportunities to keep learning and to help others to keep learning so that we can all continue building values for life. Email your resource Tiffany Caton, Dir. of Development and Communications, at tcaton@trailblazers.org to have them added to this list.

 

Do’s and Don’ts of Celebrating MLK Day. Writing in The Washington Post in 1983, Coretta Scott King provided a vision of how the holiday honoring her husband should be observed: “The holiday must be substantive as well as symbolic. It must be more than a day of celebration . . . Let this holiday be a day of reflection, a day of teaching nonviolent philosophy and strategy, a day of getting involved in nonviolent action for social and economic progress.” The list from Tolerance.org covers displays, curriculum, and discussions.

 

Teach MLK in Connection With the Attack on the U.S. Capitol. The same day a Black man and a Jewish man were voted into the U.S. Senate, a mob toting Confederate and Nazi flags attacked the U.S. Capitol. As you teach about Martin Luther King Jr. ahead of his birthday observation, acknowledge the link between the racism he resisted and the violence we witnessed at the Capitol. These resources from Tolerance.org will help foster related discussions within the context of U.S. history. Includes links:

 

 

Teaching and Learning About Martin Luther King Jr. With The New York Times. How do you celebrate and teach the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., both on the holiday that celebrates his birth, and all year long? A resource list.

 

Kids’ Books, Podcasts, and Other Resources About Diversity, Race, and Inclusion. It’s never too early for your kids to learn about race, the importance of diversity, and inclusion.

 

Stanford’s The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. A resource list for children in Grades K-12, through the modalities of Art, English Literature, U.S. History, and World History.

 

Virtual Teacher Workshop: MLK Day of Action. Join the Brooklyn Museum for their annual day of action with a series of professional development workshops for educators in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Attend one session or stay for the whole day to learn tenets of antiracist pedagogy, and see those tenets in action through lectures and workshops exploring how the arts can support cultural equity in the classroom.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Civil Rights: Relevancy for Today. This curriculum for Grades 3–12 from the Anti-Defamation League provides grade-specific lessons, resources and extension activities to provide your students opportunities to examine civil rights in the United States past and present.

 

Facing History’s Resource Library. Facing History and Ourselves’s resources address racism, antisemitism, and prejudice at pivotal moments in history, helping teachers and students connect choices made in the past to those they will confront in their own lives. Start here with a curriculum to learn about the context of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and learn about what advocating for civil rights looks like in today’s world.

 

The Apollo Theater and WYNC present APOLLO UPTOWN HALL: MLK AND THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW! in Collaboration with March on Washington Film Festival. WNYC and the Apollo Theater will present the 15th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, “MLK and the Fierce Urgency of Now,” as part of the Apollo’s Uptown Hall series, on Monday, January 18 at 3pm. This year’s digital version of the MLK Apollo Uptown Hall will unpack the implications of the 2020 US Presidential Election through the prisms of civil rights and modern day social justice movements. Join WNYC’s co-hosts Brian Lehrer, Jami Floyd and The Takeaway’s Tanzina Vega as we present in-depth interviews and narrative exploration with political leaders, authors, artists, and activists, to examine Dr. Martin Luther King’s civil rights philosophy, tactics, challenges and triumphs within the lens of today’s social and political climate.

 

The Strategic King: MLK’s Visionary Leadership. WNYC and the Apollo Theater present WNYC’s 14th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, “The Strategic King: MLK’s Visionary Leadership,” as part of the Apollo’s Uptown Hall series. This 2020 event, co-hosted by WNYC’s All Things Considered host Jami Floyd and All Of It host Alison Stewart, focuses on Dr. King and his colleagues’ skillful use of the media and politically strategic tactics to influence politicians and helped pass key legislation in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. We’ll consider how those strategies continue to inform and inspire contemporary social justice movements, especially as some of those very protections are under attack today.

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stop aapi hate

stop aapi hate

When we talk about Building Values for Life at Trail Blazers, valuing people for who they are is our most precious Value. When we talk about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, we talk about creating a world where all people are safe to live and thrive in their authentic selves.

This past year, there has been much deserved focus on the myriad ways our society continues to mistreat, and treat as less, our BIPOC brothers and sisters. In some instances the Asian American Pacific Islander community has been excluded from this attention, despite being specifically targeted for hate and mistreatment. This past year hate crimes against Asian American Pacific Islanders have risen over 150% in many of our nation’s largest cities. It is important to remember, this is only reported hate crimes, as many go unreported.

Though exacerbated by the pandemic, anti-Asian sentiment has deep roots in this country’s history. Violence against Asian American and Pacific Islanders is horrific, must be called out and must be stopped. We stand in solidarity with the AAPI community and in the aftermath of recent murders, we pause to consider how often people of Asian descent are excluded from conversations about race and race relations.

Trail Blazers’ journey to center our mission in becoming an anti-racist organization that is committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is ongoing. We recognize that dismantling the underlying drivers of hate is a task that requires all of us to do our part. While the task at hand might at times seem overwhelming, we remember there are some things we can do today to get to a better tomorrow. StopAAPIHate.org is one of many places to start in educating ourselves and taking action to do better.

We invite you share additional resources as we continue on the ongoing journey.

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