We mourn the loss of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade and so many others. We are reminded that the fight against systemic, racist, state-sanctioned violence isn’t a new fight, it is not a new problem, and is not confined to the USA.
The current situation demands more than statements of solidarity with those who have been affected and with those who are working hard to fight racial injustice.
Over the past few days, we have had some honest and frank conversations at Debate Mate. We continue to educate ourselves and push ourselves to better understand the systemic injustices and racism in our world, and we know we must do more to fight racism in all forms and in all spaces.
At Debate Mate, we will continue to amplify and broadcast Black voices.
From this moment, we are developing a longer-term strategy to educate and share resources to fight racism. So far we have committed ourselves to:
1. Organising an independent, non-biased evaluation of Debate Mate to inform and guide us in developing a clearer protocol for how we can become a more inclusive, and proactively anti-racist, organisation
2. Reviewing our educational resources, training processes and work with other organisations to better equip us to promote anti-racism in all areas of Debate Mate
3. Creating opportunities for Debate Mate students to share their experiences of racism, and empower them to challenge it.
We demand, and our students deserve, a better world, and will work tirelessly to create it and affect change together.
Debate Mate,
3rd June
N.B We have begun putting our anti-racism strategy into action! We are sharing free resources for students and teachers to engage young people everywhere with anti-racism. Find out more here!