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Standing Together

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June 11, 2020

We are experiencing ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ across our country. However, we know the issues that are leading to these times are ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ.

The systemic racism, injustice, and inequity ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜† affecting people of color are longstanding. Recent events have only unveiled what has plagued our nation for generations and resulted in the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others before them.

As we see community members coming together across our state and country calling for equity and justice ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ฌ๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ข๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ, ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž. This can only begin by doing the hard work of speaking up against racism, educating yourself and others on true history, facts, and structural bias based on race, income, and other factors of diversity, and having productive conversations with people outside your ethnic circles and personal experiences to begin understanding this issue from different perspectives and listeningโ€ฆreally listening.

At the Y we believe in our core values of Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility and we work daily to foster these values in everyone we serve. At this time of anger, frustration, and confusion โ€“ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐๐ ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž. We need to ๐š๐œ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ž๐๐ ๐ž the places of racism in our communities, ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ that Black lives matter, ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒy to be part of the solution, ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ ๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ and do it all with abundant care. Our YMCA is reviewing our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that we are not unintentionally contributing to systemic and institutional racism, and we will continue to be involved in community conversations about ending inequity.

With strong leadership from YMCA of the USA President and CEO Kevin Washington, we are ready, willing and able to stand up for what is right.

At the La Crosse Area Family YMCA, we are here for you.

๐–๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐จ: https://vimeo.com/425367756

๐‘๐ž๐š๐ ๐Š๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐งโ€™๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ฅ๐ž: https://www.ymca.net/โ€ฆ/hurt-but-hopeful-my-perspective-on-wโ€ฆ