Recently, we at Noah have been faced with a very stark reality.
As leaders, Estelle and I have failed. We have failed the people of color, both within and outside of our company. Our team has let us know that we simply have not done enough. Recently, we made a public statement surrounding the death of George Floyd, but we neglected to check in on our team during this traumatic time, which undermined their grief. Let's think about that for a second. A company whose objective from the outset was to operate as responsibly as possible on all levels, has failed. We have failed and we were actually trying. It begs the question: how is that possible? Very simply, ignorance. Most people freak out when they hear the word 'ignorance'. They think it is offensive and indicates that maybe they lack intelligence. We think that could not be further from the truth. Our belief at Noah is that admitting ignorance is the most intelligent thing you can do. It means you can accept that you don't know everything and start building real knowledge. I, Brendon, am speaking to white people here. We must accept and admit our ignorance in order to come to a place where we can receive real knowledge about institutionalized racism in America and beyond. We are committed to owning our ignorance and defeating it.
Estelle states that, as a human race of all ethnicities, we must accept that only the truth will set us free. We must all take responsibility to act with compassion in listening, communicating and educating for the betterment of understanding and dismantling of racism. Brendon and I hold ourselves accountable and are in this for the long haul. We will not be bystanders but active fighters against global racism.
We intend to listen and ACTIVATE in order to play our role in creating the America that people dream about but most never truly experience. We want to publicly apologize for not being better leaders to our team and allies to all people of color who do not receive equal and fair treatment in our society. We are working with our team on programming that amplifies their voices and concerns as well as the the voices and concerns of Black people and people of color as a whole.