The PIC Stands in Solidarity

Over the past few months, communities of color – particularly the Black community – have experienced trauma, sadness, anger, and exhaustion in response to both current events and historic oppression. In addition to a global pandemic that has laid bare the racial disparities in our healthcare and economic systems, the brutal killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have shaken our nation to its core and incited an overdue reckoning in the form of nightly protests in all 50 states.

As a diverse organization that serves a student population that is more than 90% of color, we want to take a moment to acknowledge the very real pain, fear, and frustration that the PIC family is facing right now. We also want to acknowledge that we are far from perfect ourselves, and that we still have much of our own learning and growing to do when it comes to these issues.

However, we are committed to doing the work. Together, we must engage in difficult conversations, examine our own role in perpetuating inequity, and speak out against injustice whenever and wherever we see it. It’s not enough to be non-racist. We have to be anti-racist, even when it is difficult or uncomfortable. We owe it to our students, to our community, to our staff, and to our supporters.

In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice – but it does so only with the help of countless individuals, tirelessly pushing forward. We will stand with the communities we serve as we push forward together to address racial disparities, particularly in education and workforce development.

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