February 13, 2023

In observance of Black History Month, Ann Toback, CEO of the Workers Circle released this statement:

Black History Month presents an opportunity as much as an observance—an annual invitation for us to evaluate how well our country has met its responsibilities to its Black citizens of–at a minimum–equal opportunity and freedom. Ideally, this annual act of evaluation would happen at every level—from the Halls of Congress to communities across the nation, but in the considerable space between that ideal and our present reality lies another opportunity: for us not only to evaluate, but to act.

The brutal police murder of Tyre Nichols makes it clear we must not relent from our demand for a truly multiracial democracy that delivers on rights long denied Black Americans. Following the horrific murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery in June of 2020, the Workers Circle made an explicit Pledge of Solidarity in Dismantling Racism where we committed to “stand with Black-led organizations and movements who have pioneered the way toward the America we must become; an America where Black lives matter; an America that ends the centuries worth of unrelenting harm through overt and institutional violence against Black people; an America that is prepared to repair that damage using every means at hand.”

Holding our country and its government accountable to its promise to defend the rights and freedoms of its Black citizens has been a duty the Workers Circle has upheld throughout its history. From our active allyship with Black Labor in the 1920s and the numerous delegates we sent to the March on Washington in the 1960s to our leadership in advocacy and activism today.

Black History Month is a model to Workers Circle for how commemoration, celebration and education can inspire us to new heights of solidarity and justice to come. Our own Workers Circle history—complete with all the moments of pride, struggle and occasional pitfalls one hundred and twenty years of progressive activism could provide—serves now as a resource allowing us to reflect, repair, and renew our approaches in our commitment to the cause of racial justice.

I invite you to experience this resource yourself through our newly launched Racial Justice Resources page. There, you’ll find educational programs, essays, video reports, our public statements and more—an invitation for you to not only reflect on Workers Circle’s ongoing commitment to the cause of racial justice but, more importantly, an opportunity to join us in this work.

This Black History Month is one I view with great optimism and excitement as an inspiration to our work in the coming year: the growth of our solidarity with our present partners in building a shenere un besere velt, a better and more beautiful world for all, through our continued fight for racial justice, strengthened by the dawn of new partnerships, new efforts and new solidarities to come.