Black Lives Matter: Our commitment to listen, learn, and grow

Jun 3 2020, 8:39 pm

We, Daily Hive, stand with our Black brothers and sisters in our communities across America, Canada, and anywhere else they are treated unjustly through the forces of systemic oppression. We always have and always will.

Across the world, millions of people continue to protest, taking to the streets to denounce centuries of racism, violence, and unfair treatment towards Black individuals. It’s evident that we as a society have a long way to go. We got complacent. We turned a blind eye. Simply put, our systems have failed. They don’t work for Black individuals. They are set up to empower a certain group of people and marginalize the rest to varying degrees.

At Daily Hive, we celebrate diversity as our strength, yet we don’t have a single Black person in our newsroom or in any part of the organization for that matter (not including freelance and contract positions).

We are not perfect as an organization. We have to do better. Black people are every bit a part of our community as anyone else, yet in media, they remain voiceless; faceless. We will continue reporting on racial injustices fairly and accurately in our newsroom, and provide a platform for Black people’s voices to be heard, their businesses, fundraisers, community events to be shared and celebrated.

The reality is, we all have much to learn, and it will take some time. We need to open our ears and our hearts and listen to our Black brothers and sisters and not just our comfortable echo chambers.

Yesterday, we took a small step; a very small step. Behind the scenes, our social team is working on curating lists of Black-owned businesses in all our communities. We will support them by not only sharing them now but also by mandating diversity in our feed going forward. We’ll be sharing other resources to do our part in educating our audience.

Today, the newsroom will be highlighting some Black-owned businesses. Yesterday, they highlighted a Black community mental health resource list. Again, these are small steps, but we will continue to have the discussions, as difficult as they may be. As one of Canada’s largest publications, we can give a voice to those who don’t have it.

What is it like to be Black in Vancouver? In Toronto? In Seattle? In Canada? In America? I don’t know. But we’re here to listen, learn, and grow.

Karm SumalKarm Sumal

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