06/03/2020
Sisters,
We want to sincerely say that we are sorry for the times we have remained silent and you needed to hear our voice. We acknowledge where we have not directly and adequately addressed issues of prejudice and injustice. We don’t always get it right; we recognize that, and we thank you for holding us accountable.
Privilege is when you think something is not a problem because it is not a problem for you personally. The climate of the world right now is personal for our sisters of color, which means it is a problem for ALL of us. We know that the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, along with countless others, are not isolated events but are part of a massive issue of racial injustice affecting our nation and our Black sisters. We are taking the initiative to learn how, as a member organization, we can use our platform to help make a shift on a societal level. When we fail to make changes that we are fully capable of making, we fail to uphold our values.
We are thankful for your grace while we learn to do better, your suggestions, and your openness to helping us work towards a common goal. When we know better, we do better. We want to be here with you, to be present with you, to be a place where you feel safe and shielded from the world until we can change the world.
We are vowing to be better listeners, to be more transparent on how we are taking action, and to empower our members to use their voices and resources in the name of injustice. Our next focus will be to push our members to engage with our educational lessons and give us feedback, as education is the first step towards making Tri Sigma better. We will also be sharing resources, opening doors of communication between our organization and the women we serve and creating departmental action plans for implementing changes across the board—from the collegiate experience all the way to the alumnae experience.
We know… we keep telling you how we hear you and we care. Now we are going to show you.