Anti-Racist Organization

For the past week, we’ve been following recent events and listening carefully to conversations about racism and injustice. Black lives matter. We support the movement to end white supremacy, systemic violence, and systematic oppression.  

White supremacy is not only overt discrimination and violence towards people of colour on the basis of race, but also involves the insidious and structural means by which the world is organized to perpetuate the social and economic dominance of white people.  

We agree that it is no longer enough to ‘not be racist’ and we are acutely aware that what’s important right now is not just saying the right things, but actually doing the important work of dismantling systemic racism.  

We agree that it is no longer enough to ‘not be racist’ and we are acutely aware that what’s important right now is not just saying the right things, but actually doing the important work of dismantling systemic racism. 

Here’s where we’re starting that work at Shift:

• It means taking the time to really think through and be willing to confront how systemic racism shows up in our own organization. 
• It means taking a hard look at who we hire, how we hire, and why.
• It means considering how diversity and inclusion in our therapy team impacts the experience of our clients.
• It means openly admitting that the lack of Black and Indigenous representation in our leadership team is a symptom of systemic racism and that’s not ok.
• It means committing to an ongoing process of making real, structural changes and holding ourselves accountable to actually follow through. 

In addition to looking inward, we are also thinking a lot about how we can take this opportunity to continue to support Black-owned organizations in our own communities and participate in bigger initiatives to address racism and white supremacy in Toronto and around the world. 

We are actively looking for opportunities to participate in initiatives like the Fund for Black-Led Mental Health Supports, which provides Black-led mental health resources to Black-identified people in an effort to help repair the psychological damage done by racism and white supremacy.  

This is where we’re at right now; what we’re thinking about and planning to pursue.

If you want to be involved, if you have feedback, ideas, or thoughts that you would like to share, we would be eager to hear them. Please get in touch with us, in whatever way works best for you, on our contact page.

Thank you for taking to read this, 

Megan Rafuse and the Shift Collective.