Facing our history to change our future
A few years ago, a group of FLY staff members made a transformative journey to Montgomery, Alabama to visit the Equal Justice Initiative. The trip was made possible by an anonymous funder who gave us a chance to learn together about our nation’s history of racial injustice, especially its deep influence on our modern legal systems.
At the same time, our CEO Ali Knight was on another trip to Savannah and Montgomery with a group of Bay Area justice leaders. He arranged to meet up with FLY folks one night for dinner and conversation about their experiences in Montgomery, and had this to say after their talk: “It was clear we shared a common reaction, whether or not someone’s family history was directly tied to the events depicted. It was a deeply wrenching experience and it lit a fire for justice under each of us that continues to this day.”
Other FLY staff experiences following the field trip stood out to us as well:
Four years ago, we lived in such different times. Now we face a global pandemic and rapidly evolving conversations around justice and policing. However, our experiences at EJI continue to remind us to connect where we’ve been with where we are now, and that much more work remains to be done. And we continue to share this with our youth, who are on their own journeys to understand the past and change the future.
This year for Black History Month, FLY’s social media channels are presenting a different nonprofit each week that prioritizes the health and voices of the Black community, starting with the Equal Justice Initiative.
Here is a full list of the nonprofits that we spotlighted this month:
We deeply appreciate your support as we navigate together toward creating more just systems and a more just society for our youth and their communities!