Juneteenth Statement From SMART Women’s Committee On Black Live Matter Movement

The SMART Women’s Committee stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement and the countless brave protesters exercising their constitutional rights of speech and assembly to petition our government for a redress of grievance.
The SMART Women’s Committee lends our voices, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because we understand the detrimental effect that such bigoted views have had on our own locals. We not only need justice, but there must be a standard of accountability to be set and upheld.
We cannot be silent in the face of oppression and brutality – we cannot afford to be complicit to mechanisms that seek to attack, divide, suppress, assault, harass, and subjugate our communities.
It is not enough to be against racism – we must be actively anti-racist. We must all work assertively to dismantle systemic racism and heal the generations of trauma that have wounded our country and our communities of color.  This is all our work, and our responsibility for what is just and right. We join those seeking to fight injustice – racial, social, gender, and economic – everywhere.   The labor movement has long held high these core values.
Just as SMART has been made accountable for the past actions of its members, we call for the same – especially for those who are supposed to uphold the law. Just as SMART is committed to putting measures in place to make sure that all our members can live and work safely and with dignity, we demand a national paradigm shift to repair centuries worth of harm.
We acknowledge that to make such demands are confronting and uncomfortable, but they are necessary. What the SMART Women’s Committee is committed to doing and has been doing is facilitating workshops and providing resources that address these issues. By continuing to work with SMART and General President Sellers, this is the active role we all can play to bridge the gap between inequities in our locals and in our country. We hope that you’ll join us in taking part in these important discussions.
 
Please: listen to, learn from, engage with and support the POC community.  This is a human rights issue; a working-class issue; an American issue – for an injury to one is an injury to all. 
Black Lives Matter.