Social justice

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! AAPI are people having origins from East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and peoples of Oceania. The month of May is dedicated to celebrating all the contributions and impact the AAPI community has had on American culture since the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the U.S. in 1843, as well as the Chinese migrant workers that partook in the construction of the transcontinental railway. 

Amalgamated Bank affirms the decision to hold George Floyd’s murderer accountable for his actions. However, innocent Black people continue to die every day at the hands of the police. This violence must end now, and although Derek Chauvin will be punished, that is not enough to fix the systemic racism deeply ingrained in the criminal justice system and our larger society.

Last week, Amalgamated Bank issued a public statement on our support for Black Lives Matter and promised that tangible actions would be forthcoming. I am sharing with you where we are now, just a little over a week later, and where I believe we can head in the future.

Amalgamated Bank believes that Black Lives Matter and that the horrendous death of George Floyd is just the latest example of the explicit racism embedded within our country’s entire criminal justice system. We believe the oppression of Black people must end now.

With the launch of the “Hate Is Not Charitable Campaign”, the Amalgamated Foundation announced to the world that we would not sit quietly while organizations that promote hate continue to work the system to benefit their abhorrent actions.

Last week was quite a week for our country, and not in a good way. It was a week the likes of which I hope we never see again. It was characterized by way too much hate, much of which hit far too close to home and left many with an unsettling feeling about our current state of national affairs.