Listening, Learning, Standing - In Solidarity and Support

We encourage you to support the
# blacklivesmatter movement and stand up to injustice however you are able. Listen and learn from people of color, use your privilege to amplify their voices, provide funds to organizations doing the hard work and directly to people of color, take time to educate yourself and talk to others about race, and the role each of us plays in various systems.

As an organization dedicated to ending modern day human trafficking and slavery, we have been wrestling with our role in this moment. While chattel slavery has long been outlawed and abolished in the United States, the legacy of that practice, the prejudice and systems that enabled it, and the lasting effects of centuries of disenfranchisement and racist laws, policies and practices run deep. As those wounds are torn open and the suffering of people of color are brought to the light once again, we find cause for hope in the despair. We have seen what awareness can do to impact the actions, thoughts, and hearts of individuals. We have seen changes, even as small as a purchasing decision, made when we appeal to the good in folks and expose the (in)humanity underneath. We fully believe that meaningful change can be effected and we stand with and fight alongside those seeking to address injustice.

However, it is not lost on us that as a small organization headquartered in a large majority white state, next to a large majority white college campus, with a large majority white board of directors, that we can do more and be better with regards to race and justice.  We will be reviewing our organizational policies to identify and remove any barriers we see in inviting and allowing people of color to be part of our own movement. We will also be revising our educational curriculum to include the intersectionalities between race and human trafficking, and other overlaps with forms of oppression that still today keep black people and other marginalized groups from true freedom.

We urge you to do what you can and thank you for your engaged activism during this historic moment. Sincerely, The Freedom Cafe Board of Directors