MCC Chooses Anti-Racist Actions Based Upon Community Centered Voices

With the murders of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks broadcast for the world to see, we can no longer pretend racism doesn’t exist. We either choose to acknowledge and change it, or we choose to ignore it and maintain the inequitable status quo. There is no in-between.

Silence and inaction is complicity. Black Lives Matter.

As we approach Juneteenth, the commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, sadly we continue to battle against anti-black institutions. Before George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, there was Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, and even further back, 14-year-old Emmett Louis Till who was brutally murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi in 1955. The list of Black people oppressed and killed over the past four centuries goes unanswered by justice because we refuse to see and actively fight against racism. Our society doesn’t lack tools and resources to dismantle structural racism, we lack political and social will.

Maternity Care Coalition (MCC) chooses to fight against all forms of anti-black and racist behaviors and practices. We choose to hold ourselves accountable to this standard and to share our progress with you over time.

To start, MCC staff are collectively and personally examining ourselves to acknowledge and confront our own biases. We are centering the voices of our clients, many of whom are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, in this work. We want to authentically affect change – starting with ourselves.

Further, we are committed to taking bold action to dismantle deep-rooted inequities by:

• scheduling courageous conversations with each other, board members and our funders
• actively supporting anti-racist and family-friendly legislation
• making room for diverse candidates across all our teams and in our hiring decisions
• recruiting diverse board members to govern well, and
• seeking partnerships that empower the families and communities we serve

Our commitment is to change lives, one person, one decision, and one family at a time. This is the fight of our lifetime, and we hope you will join us. Thank you.

With Solidarity,

Marianne Fray, Chief Executive Officer