George Floyd Statement

 

Our leadership and staff are by design largely People of Color.  We have deep and painful personal experiences with racism.  We are outraged; we are tired of the lack of change; and we are angry. This is our call to action.

 

George Floyd is the latest of many black, brown, and indigenous men and women who have been murdered by the police without accountability. Here’s a depressingly long list of the Black people killed since 2010. We want justice and action NOW.

 

Racial injustice in our country is now in plain view but it is not new or shocking. Black, Latinx and Native Americans– who disproportionately fill low-wage “essential jobs”–are losing jobs and dying from COVID, while the wealth of billionaires and tech companies is skyrocketing.

 

Meanwhile incredibly talented, diligent, determined low income kids of color have no access to education, no wifi, no tutors, no adults with the luxury to WFH, no food on the table, no resources for personal hygiene products, and increasingly, nowhere to live.

 

The current WH occupant actively supports white supremacists and their agenda, takes direct action against immigrants, Muslims, Latinx, Black and Native American communities, and stokes racial tensions on Twitter.

 

Mass protests are legitimate and warranted tools for change when so many calls for justice and accountability have fallen on deaf ears. We encourage our staff–and everyone else–to speak up and speak loud.

 

This moment calls for more than words (and donations). Every aspect of business as usual needs disruption. We need actions so never again will we have two Americas, one privileged by wealth, opportunity, and safety and the other shackled by skin color and zip code.

 

Some of us can turn off social media, choose not to watch horrific videos and retreat to comfortable private lives, but that escape is a luxury not all of us have. That’s white privilege and those of us who are white must understand and dismantle it.

 

We call for actions to:

 

Invest heavily and specifically in educational opportunities for students of color to close opportunity gaps between them and the offspring of the affluent

 

We are placing our bets on the super talented scholars coming out of SMASH, on closing the digital divide, and closing gaps in access to Computer Science education.

 

Develop, invest in, and use technology to close gaps in access across all sectors: education, health care, employment, and access to capital.  We believe deeply in the work of our Kapor Capital portfolio companies.

 

Invest heavily in funds and companies whose founders are solving real problems, and who will simultaneously build wealth for themselves and their communities.

 

Research, organize, mobilize and elect the public officials who will implement a robust policy agenda that dismantles systemic racism at the local, state and national level. Advocate for current officials to radically change their agenda.

 

Above all, vote in the coming election. Up and down the ballot.

 

Never lose sight — every action you take and those you don’t are political acts — where you work, spend your $, the clothes you wear, the media you consume and who/what you invest in.  Choose wisely and justly.