To our dearest community,
We fully stand against systemic racial injustice and use of police brutality, and mourn the loss of life that has led us to where we are today. A core value of Les Gamins has always been inclusiveness but we know there is a lot more we can do to support our Black friends + community, and we have been asking ourselves how we can channel our anger into action.
We have spent this week listening, reading and sharing anti-racism resources we've found helpful. We have also donated both personally and as a company to the NAACP, Black Visions Collective, Equal Justice Initiative, The Conscious Kid Anti-Racist Children's Book Education Fund. The Sustainable Brooklyn Rent Relief Fund and the Free Women's Library Sister Outside Relief Fund.
Change begins at home. And as parents, we have the honor and great responsibility to raise our children with the values we know to be right and good. We shared a few resources in last week's newsletter but here are some more family-focused resources we've found helpful to educate both our children + ourselves. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, we hope it's a helpful starting point and would love to hear about others you've been using.
- Engage your children in race-conscious conversations. This website has a lot of great resources. We've particularly found this article with specific conversation starters and responses to be helpful.
- Diversify your child's bookshelf to include books that feature characters of color but also support conversations on race, racism and resistance. You can also take the opportunity to support Black-owned independent bookstores.
- Support Black-owned businesses by purchasing toys, books, and/or clothing from Black retailers found via directories like Black Nation and Official Black Wall Street.
- Listen to these select kid-friendly episodes from Code Switch, a NPR podcast hosted by journalists of color exploring explore how race impacts every part of society.
- Continuously educate ourselves so that we can have the tools to address racism with our children + lead by example. This is a big list and there are many more resources which can feel overwhelming but we should remind ourselves that it needs to be an ongoing effort.
With love and solidarity,
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