To Our Communities:

“Eliminating racism and empowering women,” the powerful mission of all YWCAs in this country, requires a public statement on the events of yesterday at our nation’s Capitol and the unacceptable juxtaposition of these events with how police have handled protests against police violence in Washington DC and elsewhere.

The contrast could not be more clear: Yesterday, unprepared police forces allowed white supremacists, who had been preparing their attack in plain sight for weeks, to violently storm our Capitol in violation of federal law in an attempt to overthrow a fair election. Last summer, we saw a much more heavily armed and prepared response to a peaceful and legal Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, in which protesters were beaten, gassed, rounded up in vans and quickly dispersed.

We cannot ignore the implications of yesterday’s demonstration of white privilege and systemic racism. Doing so advances notions of supremacy and will continue to foment the sort of violence we witnessed yesterday.

We commit to our communities and to the State of Connecticut again today that we will continue to raise up, condemn and work against the racism and notions of privilege that threaten democracy, people of color and a just society.

YWCA Greenwich
YWCA Hartford
YWCA New Britain