We mourn with the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Dreasjon Reed, and the others who have recently lost their lives. We watched in all too familiar disbelief as a Black man, George Floyd, of Minneapolis, handcuffed and unarmed was killed without justification. It is yet another trauma in the midst of a pandemic which has already ravaged black and brown communities more than any others. These are not isolated incidents. Our own Indianapolis history provides too many examples of when our neighbors of color have been mistreated, redlined, and blatantly discriminated. There is real pain that words alone cannot soothe and have left so many of us feeling angry, powerless and helpless. But we are not powerless or helpless. In countless communities for countless hours, Americans have assembled peacefully based on a belief in our shared humanity and a demand that this be recognized as the way we treat and love one another. We understand that community development moves at the speed of trust. We must be intentional in how we move forward. This begins first with an intentional look at ourselves. We are examining everything we do in the lens of racial equity. We know that we are part of a historically inequitable system and must be intentional in addressing it. This requires asking and answering tough questions: how can we be intentional in addressing this in our personal lives, workplace, and mission? How will this moment change what we do going forward? What are we willing to sacrifice in order to make that change? How can we work together to address the real systemic racial inequities in Indianapolis? Racial inequity isn’t something easily dismantled. As Hall of Fame basketball player Kareem Abdul Jabbar wrote last weekend, it “is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air." The protests in Indianapolis over the last few days are evidence that Indianapolis is seeing the dust and shining the light. Let us be intentional and keep shining the light together. In Solidarity, | 