A Letter to Our Community: Black Parent Initiative

Dear BPI Community,

We are devastated by the recent murder of George Floyd. 

Over the past several months, we have been working diligently to support our community – making sure that the Black, African, African-American, and African-American multicultural families we serve are getting the food, healthcare, economic assistance and technological access they need during this COVID-19 crisis. 

Our families have been depleted emotionally, mentally and economically and are experiencing yet another wave of trauma with the recent death of an unarmed African-American man at the hands of the police. 

The revolving door of trauma that our community is experiencing is both heart wrenching and frustrating, but it will not be the cause of our undoing. 

Our community has suffered and persevered under much worse circumstances and we continue to rise despite the onslaught of oppression and continued systemic racism. 

Let me remind you that we are amazing people! 

We have never returned the violence and barbarism that we have experienced. We have always reached out to help others, both within and outside of our cultural communities, in times of crisis. We have done this because at our core we recognize the full humanity of our national and global village. 

This is the essence of who we are! 

The time is now for us to strengthen our village! Lifting one another up to provide the spiritual sustenance that will heal and restore us so that we may continue. We are united in the struggle for equality, human dignity and liberty! 

Our beautiful brothers and sisters, we love you! We are here for you! Do not be discouraged! 

Together, we will achieve our full potential! 

Our full and complete liberation depends on our ability to stay connected, maintain our compassion and to strategize effective ways to dismantle inequitable systems. 

They tried to bury us! They didn’t know we were seeds! 

In Solidarity, 

Bahia Overton
Executive Director