An Open Letter: Our Commitment To Do Better in The Fight Against Racism

We've got something to get off our chest. 

We can no longer remain silent about the systemic oppression and racism that has been happening for far too long. 

Current events across the globe have made us think harder and deeper about this issue than ever before. We’ve been reading, talking, thinking and doing since we heard the call. We’ve been looking inward and self-reflecting on our own privilege, and the biases we’ve amassed over the years. We have come to a very clear conclusion: To be silent is to be complacent. And as a company we need to do better in our support of the BIPOC community that makes up our employees, our community, our clients and our customers.

We’ve been reflecting here at Honk HQ about how we can actively participate in the anti-racist fight. How can we use our platform to raise awareness? What tangible something can we give to the cause?

 Here’s what we came up with: For starters, we’ll be donating all parking service fees collected every Monday in August to 2 non-profits that support BIPOC. Because we operate in both the United States and Canada, we’ll be supporting one initiative from each country:

Equal Justice Initiative

This initiative works to end mass incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial inequality in the United States. Because Black people in America are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of white people.

Black Health Alliance

This community-led organization looks to improve the health and well-being of Black communities in Canada. Because Black women in Canada have substantially higher rates of premature births than white women.

Another thing we’ll be doing? making an effort to become better anti-racist allies — by doing the research, the work, the learning, and the re-education at the individual level.

“Racism is a big bad word that’s often perceived as overt and violent, but racism is most often implicit, insidious, pervasive and systematic.” 

(Source: Temi Adamolekun)

This statement is powerful. Violent acts of racism are most certainly overt and obvious, but the deeply ingrained systemic racism that is woven into society? It needs to come undone. So we’re getting down to work here at Honk HQ. We’ll be better educating ourselves to become better allies, and we’re starting with the list below. We invite you to do the same.

Reading List (*Shop local if you can!!):

Between The World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson *Adapted to a movie 

The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin

How To Be An Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi

There’s a revolution happening. We can’t stay silent. We urge you to use your voices too — however small or large they might be. 

Let’s continue to rage against the machine.

- Michael & the entire Honk Team