For most of us, the past few months have been extraordinarily distressing and difficult to navigate. Even as we continue to grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted our communities of color, we are deeply saddened and outraged by the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many other Black Americans. It is difficult to know what to say during such troubling times but what we have witnessed in the past week reminds us that silence is never the answer.
Acenda Integrated Health is dedicated to ensuring that every individual, family and community achieves their greatest potential. Sadly, no amount of community programming or services will enable us to achieve this vision without coming together as a society to dismantle the systemic and institutionalized racism that is the root cause of severe and pervasive health disparities in so many communities. Each and every one of us must challenge ourselves to be a part of this journey and healing process.
Our Acenda family stands at the front line with other organizations committed to a fair, just and equitable society. It is time that we move beyond inaction and instead use these recent events as a call to action to eradicate social injustice, inequality and systemic and targeted racism. To be clear, even as we take the necessary steps to mitigate the loss of life and quality of life attributable to Covid-19, we do so knowing that the impact of racism and violence targeted against our communities of color over our nation’s history has taken a far greater toll.