INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 14, 2016) – For more than twenty years the Race and Cultural Relations Leadership Network, “the Network,” a standing committee of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, has served as a forum to inform and mobilize leadership to address the racially and culturally charged issues in our community.  The Network joins with community leadership throughout our community and the country to express our collective sense of loss, pain, frustration, fear, anger and concern following the recent events in Orlando, Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas. While these events occurred in other communities we recognize their impact on the hearts and minds of people in our own community. Our hearts break for the families of the lost or hurt.  We rise to encourage some and challenge others to understand and affirm the complex feelings elicited by these events, acknowledge the issues that challenge us as a nation, and inspire a collective commitment to action.

We acknowledge, affirm, and empathize with the multitude of emotions felt by so many throughout our community and country. In doing so, we stand with all those touched directly by these tragic events as well as other of us who have been so profoundly affected by them.  We stand united as a community, in support of all of our residents and in gratitude for those who protect and serve us. While we believe that all people should feel safe in the knowledge that all lives matter, we must take the opportunity to join in affirming the context and meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement.

We acknowledge that bias (conscious and unconscious) remains an active variable impacting virtually every aspect of our lives and that systems of laws, policies, traditions and attitudes continue to compete with our most noble and virtuous values. We acknowledge the need to improve police-community relations and race relations, and strongly condemn the unlawful killing of innocents – whether members of the general public or public servants. We acknowledge that we too have recently experienced challenges and express confidence in our civic, cultural, corporate, and law enforcement leadership to answer the tough and emerging questions:

  • What do we tell our children about this moment?
  • How do we maintain our sense of community while keeping civilians and police officers safe?
  • How can we come together to address racism and violence to heal and improve our community?

As Dr. Martin Luther King inquired, “Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community?”

The Race and Cultural Relations Leadership Network calls upon every station of leadership to seize this moment as an opportunity to come together and commit to sustainable action:

  • Commit to talking and learning about bias, racism, civic engagement and public service with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues
  • Commit to building and improving police community relations by participating in the various programs sponsored by IMPD
  • Commit to seeing “them/they” as “us/we” by intentionally getting to know someone who is different, volunteering and/or getting involved in local organizations and initiatives
  • Commit to participate in the monthly discussions about race and culture and/or explore ways to get involved with change agents/agencies throughout our community

We understand that healing and growth is a process, and remain hopeful that justice, fairness and a spirit of collective effort and responsibility prevail for the benefit of all.

About the Race and Cultural Relations Leadership Network

The mission of GIPC’s Race and Cultural Relations Leadership Network is to improve the quality of life for all residents and guests by advocating, and where appropriate, coordinating a community response to issues and situations that arise within the Greater Indianapolis area that have racial or cultural implications.  For more information, please visit www.indygipc.org.

About the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee

Since 1965, the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee (GIPC) has convened representatives from all sectors of the community to address the most significant issues of concern and areas for opportunity related to the progress of the City of Indianapolis. Driven by business and civic leaders, GIPC represents the bipartisan alliance that is a continuing example of the public-private partnership in Indianapolis.

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