POST stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and with everyone participating in protests around the world. It is time we acknowledge and abolish the police brutality and systemic racism within our country that has led to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Manuel Ellis, Ahmaud Arbery, Charleena Lyles and thousands of other Black people.
As an outdoor education organization, we recognize that the outdoors is a white-dominated, racist and discriminatory space. POST has a long history of racist policies and practices and while we have taken a few steps in making POST a more equitable and accessible space, such as conducting anti-racism trainings for staff members and expanding outreach efforts, what we have done is simply not enough. We have to do better. We commit to continue addressing and abolishing the racism within our organization as well as the outdoors space as a whole by hosting more inclusive and accessible programming for participants, expanding our capacity for and prioritizing funding for scholarships and focusing on making gear accessible so that trips are more accessible. POST as an organization has a strict no tolerance policy for racism and discrimination of any kind. We will and must do better in educating both staff and campers, and will continue to abide by this policy on future trips.
POST will be donating 100% of the proceeds from our online auction to both King County Equity Now and Youth Undoing Institutionalized Racism (YUIR). We encourage others to do the same if they have the means to. We also encourage others to do their part and sign the many petitions calling for justice for those victims of these senseless killings, as well as continuously educating themselves.
Donations:
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
https://moreblminfo.carrd.co/#
https://www.kingcountyequitynow.com
https://www.afsc.org/key-issues/issue/youth-undoing-institutional-racism
Petitions:
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd
https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor
https://www.change.org/p/district-attorney-tom-durden-justice-for-ahmaud-arbery-i-run-with-maud
https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-tony-mcdade
Anti-racism in the outdoors: