Contributed by
AiLun Ku
Event Details
May 29, 2020
For the past seven months, we have been sending out updates about our work and our communities at the beginning of each month. In preparing my heartfelt letters that opened each Opportunity Report, it has always been easy to look to the OppNet community for stories of inspiration, joy, celebration, and tenacity. I have the honor and privilege of working with bright minds, kind souls, and dynamic personalities that I know will build a safer and more equitable future for all of us.
But this month’s writing was clouded with profound grief and anger. And as a non-black, immigrant woman of color leading an education and career success nonprofit, what am I to our community if I cannot speak and face hard truths?
The truth is: while the incredible black and brown young people we serve continue to do their part in being diligent learners, creators, and leaders, their lives are in grave danger. How much will their college degrees be worth if they get killed?
Every day, black lives are brutally extinguished, families are heartlessly severed, and communities are traumatically shattered. Our young people continue to push through systemic barriers and give everything they have to hold on to their right to be the makers of their destinies. At the same time, they are constantly contending with the persistent threat of deeply rooted racism and brutality—the type that can take it all away, in an instant, for simply living while black.
We will resume our regular Opportunity Report next week because our young people deserve to be celebrated and to have their stories amplified. But right now, we mourn for every black life that has been senselessly taken. Our world will never be enriched by their fullest stories and humanity and what a tragic and shameful loss that is for the rest of us.
This week, we highlight a few black-led organizations and initiatives that we respect, admire, and learn from. I implore all of us to follow their lead, so we can make unraveling racism a daily practice, starting with our own education.
AiLun Ku
President and CEO
Chicago Beyond’s “Why Am I Always Being Researched?” Guidebook
Center for Racial Justice in Education
Equal Justice Initiative and Bryan Stevenson’s Ted Talk
Fund II Foundation and internX
