# Are We There Yet for Black Lives Matter

Hello Are We There Yet community,

Today was supposed to be the last day of our festival, but after extensive discussion within our team and with speakers, we have decided to postpone the event. This is our (small) way of supporting Black Lives Matter and BlackOutTuesday. It is even more a way for us to reflect on our privilege.

In light of what is going on in the U.S., and globally for that matter, we want to recognize that as a budding community, we want to actively do the uncomfortable and take a stand for what we believe in.

This requires us to go beyond 'not racist' and towards being antiracist. Life cannot and should not go on as normal. It is sad that it takes media-frenzied and violent events for most of us to listen. But it’s an opportunity that we can’t let slip by (again).

We had the idea to start this festival and community in order to ask provoking questions about the meaning of existence under the bewildering backdrop of COVID. Yet COVID is an intersectional issue and racism, particularly anti-black racism, stands as toxic and deadly.

We see this prominently in the U.S. now. But if we just wake up, we can see that it permeates the globe, in each of our communities and ourselves. Perhaps it shows up in different, more implicit ways in your personal context but nevertheless, it is worth reflecting on.

We still want Are We There Yet to be a platform for people to share the things that light a fire in them. Right now, we hope that the issue of racism can be that.

Speaking for ourselves as a team mostly consisting of non-black allies, we want to call out our privilege and also admit that we are uncertain about how best to go about our lives. But one thing we do know to do is to actively speak out in support of black people in the U.S. and to stand humbly aside to let their voices be heard.

This includes donating to causes, supporting black businesses, (un)learning through reading and learning from black educators, and having difficult conversations with colleagues, friends and family.

In terms of us and this festival, instead of hosting sessions today, we will be shifting the festival to two weeks from now (Sunday, June 14th), and hope that we can use that time to continue discussing these issues.

Additionally we have created a working list of antiracist resources — books, films, talks, organizations, people — and strongly encourage you to add to this list: https://hackmd.io/mvUHXphARN6P6dpixWOqsg.

Lastly, if you would like to share feedback or thoughts with us, please do so. We’re looking to learn and expand.

Yours,
AWTY team