A founding pillar of Acre Family Child Care is a culture of inclusion that celebrates the diversity of our staff, Providers, and families; we are stronger personally and professionally from what we learn from differing backgrounds, cultures, and experiences.
This last week, starting with the tragic killing of George Floyd, we have struggled to find the right words as we cycle between pain, anger, grief, and the heartbreaking feeling of predictability as we have seen this targeted hatred time and time again. Racism is not just an ugly part of our history—part of the foundation of this country—it is a part of everyday life for people of color. The facts that African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5x the rate of white people and that the median net worth of Black Americans in Boston is 99.99% less than white city dwellers are completely unacceptable.
Black lives matter. This is not a political or controversial statement, it is unequivocal truth not worthy of debate. It is devastating the number of lives lost because of skin color. Racism and hate have no place in our office or any of our programs and are completely unacceptable. We encourage each of you to join us as we take this moment to learn, advocate, and grow.
We recognize that this is a difficult topic to discuss with young children. Over the coming weeks, we will put resources on our website, Facebook page, and compile resources and strategies for our Educators. Children are smart and curious. They recognize that we all look different, and they have a great understanding of fairness and inequity. Is everything on the news appropriate for them to see? No. Can we help them understand concepts like justice, prejudice, and equality? Absolutely.
As always, if you have any questions or comments we are happy to talk. Our work is far from over and we thank you for being our partner in ensuring children and families are given the opportunity to grow and support to succeed. We wish you peace, safety, and health.