Dear Hearts on Fire Community,
The name Hearts on Fire came from an interview with one of our founding Visionaries who said, “out of the ashes my heart was on fire.” Like most of you, the last two weeks have brought us sadness and anger. We feel crushed. However, when we see the protests, when we see Gianna Floyd smile and say, “Daddy changed the world!” we hope and strive to make her words ring true. We cannot let her down. We cannot sit idly and wait for change to happen.
For years, we have talked internally about our white privilege and making sure we always turn to our admired leaders, who know more than us, to find answers to address social issues. That said, we have come face-to-face with figuring out whose voice is needed in this moment. We believe that our community members will be more eloquent and knowledgeable than we ever could. However, two of our strongest black voices have pointed out that it is our job, as privileged white women, to speak up. Our voices are needed. White women have stayed silent for far too long and change cannot happen if we are not all in this together.
Starting there, we acknowledge the past but know that we must act to make the future truly equal for our Black/Brown/POC friends, family members, colleagues, neighbors and the larger community. The mission of Hearts on Fire has always been to lift up and assist resilient leaders doing remarkable work, while also inspiring others to join the social change movement; showing they too can make the world a better place. Equity and Justice are core to our work, and we commit to carrying these through and deepening our work in the antiracism space.
We commit to lifting up and supporting Black and Brown leaders a nd communities
We commit to speaking up and standing up to injustice
We commit to ensuring that our team undergo anti-racism training and face our own biases head on
We commit to providing opportunities for our community members to participate in anti-racism training
We commit to working to dismantle institutional and structural racism
We commit to listening, learning and being active participants for change
We commit to raising our fists in solidarity!
With that, we would like to share some moving words from our admired leaders this past week. Please click their quotes for more.
In sadness, anger and strength, our hearts are rising from the ashes and are on fire to get to work,
Kiva, Sara & The Hearts on Fire Team
