We condemn the murder of George Floyd. He is one of so very many people of color whose lives were taken by violence by people influenced by racist thoughts and systems. We grieve for Mr. Floyd, his family and friends, and for America.
We stand in solidarity with people of color to acknowledge this grief along with the anger that day after day and week after week we see another black or brown person killed. We stand with people of color frustrated that nothing changes. We hear your screams and scream with you. We will not become numb to this violence and injustice.
Our vision is that all Mat-Su residents will have the opportunity for a healthy life. But that’s not the case. We have designed our systems—from law enforcement and education to health care and finance—to work and favor white people and to tell our story almost exclusively in history books, media, and data.
Here at the Mat-Su Health Foundation, we will continue to work daily to mine the data, to tell the story of how some people in our community have the opportunity for a healthy life and how others don’t. We will elevate voices beyond the dominant culture. We will work for policies and regulations that make access to wealth-building policies more equitable. We will work to ensure that all the systems that serve our community are just.
We work, live, play and raise our families on the traditional lands of the Dena'ina and Ahtna peoples. We will make this land acknowledgement in every public gathering. We will honor our tribes and their stewardship of these lands for all peoples. We recognize that they too are crying out about racism and injustice.
We will continue to have challenging conversations about race and equity with our board of directors, with our staff, and with our community. We will show empathy and kindness. We will not turn aside from this work or people of color. Our hearts go out to you.
