8.11.20 Collective response to David elliott’s blog post

Dear David,

It has come to our attention that you have erased the hours of labor by us Black women and our allies by disacknowledging the sources and reasons behind why you wrote your blog post on the changes you are planning on making to create a safer and more inclusive space in your business. Posting this material on your website without sharing the context with your students about how your action steps originated is erasure. Anti-racist and social justice work is the dialogue that begins once you acknowledge your lack of inclusivity and the efforts taken by those marginalized parties for bringing it to your attention. An important aspect of ethical business practices is giving credit to people who put hours of labor into writing the steps out for recommended action for your business to become more inclusive. Going forward, we hope that you will rectify this error and give context and credit to our labor as a symbol of the concerted efforts you have said you will be taking.

Sincerely,
Susan Ateh
Chauna Bryant
Maryam Ajayi
Jennifer Patterson
Amy Kuretsky
Molly Hilgenberg