<p><span style=background-color: transparent;>As we mark the first anniversary of the unjustified murder of George Floyd DignityUSA stands with all those who have seen this tragic incident as an urgent call to examine and dismantle systemic racism in our society. We know this anniversary will renew the grief and trauma experienced by Mr. Floyds family friends and community and by millions whose lives are filled with fear anxiety and grief because of the color of the skin or their ethnic identity. To them we offer our prayer but more importantly a commitment to becoming ever better allies in the ongoing struggle to achieve justice and equality. We pledge to continue to make anti-racism work a priority within our organization.</span></p><p>In the past year the Board of DignityUSA and many of our communities across the country have embarked on or continued examining our own attitudes experiences structures and practices to understand where implicit bias is embedded and to begin to uproot it. We have dedicated time in every Board meeting to addressing racial justice issues by reflecting on our personal beliefs experiences biases and privileges provided resources to our members and communities for anti-racism work committed to prioritizing using minority- and women-owned businesses and investing in companies and funds owned and managed by People of Color. Our upcoming national gathering has a strong focus on racial justice issues. Rev. Bryan Massingale the leader in the Catholic racial justice movement will keynote and a workshop will offer tools for addressing racial justice within our communities. We commit to expanding and deepening this work in the years ahead.</p><p><br>As an organization of Catholics committed to justice equality and full inclusion of LGBTQI people in our church and in society we know that discrimination is a reality. We know that our faith calls us to dismantle structures that oppress any group of people and we strive to live our belief that all people created and loved by one God have the same dignity and human rights. We know that systems of oppression overlap and intersect and that our equality cannot be fully realized until race- and ethnicity-based discrimination and violence no longer exist in our world.</p><p><br>Black lives matter to DignityUSA.</p>