Sewall Staff Reflections on Derek Chauvin’s Conviction
May 25, 2020 was the first Memorial Day observed in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the day when George Floyd became the seventh person of color in 2020 to be killed by police using deadly force in the U.S. Nearly a year later, a jury in Minnesota convicted Floyd’s killer on all three charges. In the time that transpired since Floyd’s murder, 181 Black individuals were killed by the police across the U.S.
The verdict announcement came as Sewall Foundation continues to deepen our understanding of the multitude of ways that racism operates in the U.S., in Maine, and in our own organization and the philanthropic sector. Our nine-member staff represents diversity across life experiences, racial and other identities, and varied perspectives on issues of local and national concern. Recognizing that racial violence and the verdict affect us differently, we decided to take a few days to process individually before coming together as a group to share with each other. In this statement we offer our collective reflections.
The context
The murder of George Floyd was far from an isolated incident. Current policing institutions are unnecessarily violent and built on racist roots, with the police in the U.S. injuring, killing, and imprisoning more people than any other wealthy country. Statistics about racial disparities in policing are mindboggling, repeatedly showing disproportionate policing of communities of color, and more punitive and fatal outcomes for black, indigenous and communities of color along every facet of the law enforcement and justice systems.
Our staff discussed the multiple ways that BIPOC communities are “policed” and live under fear of state-sanctioned and -funded violence– not just by law enforcement, but in schools, in workplaces, in health and human services settings, in public venues such as grocery stores and shopping malls, by the immigration system, in public spaces such as parks and even in their own homes. Floyd’s murder is an example of how institutions, set up ostensibly to protect the interests of all, have a long history of causing harm and repeated trauma to black, indigenous and communities of color.
The verdict
While our staff team is diverse across many facets, we shared a sense of hurt and sadness, for Floyd’s family and community, for BIPOC communities across the U.S. and in Maine, and especially for BIPOC families who have been denied any sense of justice or accountability for the killing of their loved ones at the hands of police.
On the one hand, despite the conviction of Derek Chauvin, it feels like nothing has changed: a 16-year-old Black girl was killed by police the day of the verdict, and a 13-year-old Latinx boy was killed by police a few days earlier; we cannot become complacent. On the other hand, it is significant that police officers and the Minneapolis police chief himself, spoke up against one of their own in the trial. In denouncing the beliefs and the actions that led to Floyd’s death, they showed integrity and courage.
Actions Sewall is taking
We felt it was important to share this statement to practice transparency about our values with our partners and communities in Maine. And we need to put actions to our words. We want everything about how we work to manifest that “Black Lives Matter” to Sewall Foundation.
First, we are committed to not causing further harm to BIPOC communities through what we do and speak. When we become aware of harm that we have caused, we are learning to acknowledge that harm and take steps towards healing.
We are developing a new way of working, based on the idea of emergence, that guides us in a continual process of innovating and course correcting. Starting with small steps – which vendors to choose, which internal policies and practices to shift, what kinds of messaging to develop – we are practicing putting our values into action.
We are developing a clearer shape for our largest grant program, Healthy People Healthy Places, with new focus areas that provide structures to support healing, equity, and trust with and among communities across Maine.
Having heard clearly, especially from BIPOC communities in Maine, that funders should decide “Nothing About Us Without Us,” we are moving towards greater community-centeredness and uplifting community voice, trusting that communities are the experts in how to achieve their goals. We are learning to listen more fully.
We are shifting the allocation of our grant funding to reflect our commitment to BIPOC communities in Maine. For example, we set a goal of 35% (and exceeded it with an actual payout of 73%) of the funding through our Twin Pandemics grants in 2020 to be allocated to BIPOC organizations, to address impacts of COVID-19 and systemic racism.
We continue to explore ways of supporting grassroots organizations so that we avoid reenacting or reinforcing traditional power structures in our interactions with nonprofit and funding partners.
Our belief that there is an inherent and unbreakable interconnectedness and interdependence among people, animals, and the environment, also leads us to understand the interconnectedness between injustices in our society. As a funder in Maine, this means taking a solidarity approach and stating that Black Lives Matter, that tribal sovereignty is necessary for justice in our state to be realized, and that we must embrace new Mainers as our neighbors and essential to our future.
We are guided by the principle of Targeted Universalism. For Sewall that means that, if we shift our work in ways that benefit BIPOC communities who historically have borne the brunt of inequity, then the impacts will benefit all Mainers.
We are developing multiple non-grant strategies – capacity-building, impact investment, strategic communications, policy and advocacy, and supporting cross-sector partnerships – to advance equity in all of our work.
We are working on our organizational culture, understanding that much of what upholds racist systems is unspoken and unseen, built into long held and practiced beliefs and values. We are uncovering these assumptions and asking ourselves the “why” of our practices, and what underlying beliefs and values are transmitted by our actions and practices.
Our commitment to ongoing equity work within and across our programs and focus areas includes working with various systems, including public sector institutions, to help create conditions that foster equity and support increased justice and accountability for BIPOC communities in Maine. We are committed to working intentionally and explicitly towards a future where deaths like George Floyd’s are a thing of the past, and condemnation of racist violence a social norm instead of a rarity. We welcome new and continued partnerships with all in this movement to build pathways to justice.