This country was built upon racist ideas and policies that we must all work deliberately to undo every day. These policies, such as Jim Crow laws, residential redlining, inequitable school funding, lack of access to GI bill benefits, and more have brought deep harms to Black and Brown communities.
Last week our staff and board took time to reflect and recommit ourselves to being antiracist. This is the question we posed to ourselves:
How do we, as a group of people committed to the values of antiracism, shift our work so our actions reflect our values?
As an organization, we have recommitted ourselves to listening to and centering Black voices and bringing our decades of expertise around economic and fiscal issues to help end racial oppression and white supremacy.
We were particularly moved by the Movement 4 Black Lives Policy Platform and pledge to lend our expertise to the ECONOMIC JUSTICE, INVEST-DIVEST and REPARATIONS portions of the platform.
Equitable investments are critical. How we spend and raise our public dollars is the clearest picture of our shared values. Our budgets — federal, state, and municipal — are the most concrete expression of our collective vision for the society we want. It’s all about investing in policies and programs that bring collective well-being and joy and divesting from what’s harming Black and Brown communities.
At MassBudget, we pledge to be partners in the movement for Black lives. We unequivocally denounce police brutality and the racist violence that caused the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the many others before them. We stand in solidarity both with our words and actions.
Black Lives Matter.
In Solidarity,
Marie-Frances Rivera
President, MassBudget
