Tired.

Action.

A new normal.

These are but a few of the words that keep coming up in the varied community conversations that we have recently participated in. Unfortunately, far too many of UTEC's Black and Brown staff and young adults have their own lived experiences that provide a painful story for why the recent killings are not new news.

My personal and professional journey has absolutely benefited from the tone of my skin color and the privilege of relationships, opportunities, and assumptions. Too many of our Black and Brown friends have a lifetime of lived experiences that demonstrate how this plays out differently for them in all sectors of society. The Black and Brown community deserves our commitment to do our part to bring long overdue change to the systems of white supremacy and racial injustice.

Bold change seems to often only begin through discomfort and disruption...and then acceptance from others that such change is “acceptable.” We urge those in positions of power, specifically white leaders, to embrace this moment to create policies that disrupt the systemic racism that exists everywhere.

Recognizing that many of our supporters feel the compelling urgency to act, we wanted to share the Ten Point Policy Platform developed by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. Last year, UTEC was pleased to honor their work around criminal justice reform. Today, we appreciate their quick action for change to address systemic racism. We hope that you will join in supporting such changes.

Another policy campaign that UTEC's young adults have been working on is EXPUNGEMENT . We were very pleased to have legislation passed in 2018. Today, our young adults continue to campaign for new legislation that would make expungement accessible to more people. Read their testimony below, and please consider how you can support their efforts by contacting your state legislator:

"In 2018, Massachusetts passed legislation that created an opportunity to expunge juvenile and adult criminal records for folks whose offense was charged prior to their 21st birthday. While this is a tremendous step forward, the law created a significant limit; there can only be one court case on the record. In effect, anyone who has a second or subsequent court case would be forever ineligible for expungement. No young people who advocated for expungement yet benefit under this law. This is a missed opportunity to tackle recidivism.

Let’s do more."

If you know Bryan Stevenson, you will appreciate his perspective on the recent protest. And if you're not aware of his work as a civil rights lawyer, please get to know the nonprofit organization he founded, the Equal Justice Initiative , highlighted in the book and film, Just Mercy.

Over the coming days, we remain committed to intensifying our own internal work as an organization, and to working to best support our young adults and advocate for change at the broader level. We continue to appreciate and to support all black and brown leaders who have been in this tiring, and unfair, fight for far too long.

And we look forward to  not   going back to ”normal.”

Gregg

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