What is systemic racism?

What are the effects of systemic racism?

How can we begin to set things right?

For much of this year, many of us have been asking questions about systemic racism. But we have had years to ask these questions and years to listen to and act on the answers. As Arizona Cardinals player Larry Fitzgerald wrote in the New York Times, systemic racism and the events of this year are “not new territory for our America.”

Larry Fitzgerald is right. Systemic racism is not new territory for America. And, it’s not new territory for Arizona, either.

But, this old territory can give us, as Larry Fitzgerald also wrote, an opportunity to hear – really hear – all the voices around us and to start on the hard work of facing down systemic injustice and racism: “Our first step must be to listen to one another – to sincerely lean in and hear what the person who is different from us is saying.”

Please take that first step. Lean in, listen, learn about the effects of systemic racism, and join us in discussing how to begin to set things right.