Milwaukee, WI, June 1, 2020: Members of Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investment are traumatized and outraged by recent incidents of police brutality in our neighborhoods and cities that manifests individual and institutional racism. We mourn the recent police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, and stand in solidarity with the victims of systemic racial injustice in the United States. While recent events disclose injustice in law enforcement and our criminal justice system, we recognize that institutional racism exists as well in our corporations, our economy and throughout our society.
We lament that years of protests, demonstrations, and marches have failed to bring an end to the suffering, the dehumanization, the oppression, and the loss of so many precious lives. So many people of color who historically have been disenfranchised continue to experience economic inequities, sadness and pain; a pattern seen as well in the path of the COVID-19 pandemic, disproportionately affecting people of color in the number of cases and fatalities.
We recognize our obligation to work as institutional investors, as citizens, and, most importantly, as people of faith to address and change unjust and immoral cultural patterns and social systems. We commit ourselves to listening to the stories of those subjected to institutionalized racism to more authentically accompany them. Through the lens of faith, we will reform our investment practices and challenge companies to increase diversity and address their negative impacts on people of color. We recommit to building a more just and sustainable world for our brothers and sisters who are most vulnerable.
Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investing 