2020-06-22 Responding to Systemic Racism from the NTL Social Justice Hub

NTL Public Statement – Responding to Systemic Racism

Monday, June 22, 2020

Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

We at the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science are horrified, enraged, and grieving the brutal murders of Black people. We stand in solidarity with the fight against White supremacy in the United States and in other parts of the world. The tragic murders of Black people by police and White citizens occur during a long history of White supremacist violence both in the United States and globally.  

This violence festers within a system of individual biases, policies, and practices which include systems such as education, economics, criminal justice, housing, healthcare, and more. Black lives do matter. 

Social justice, and the advancement of oppression-free societies, is an integral part of our vision, mission, and values. Our first value is social justice, manifested through inclusion, equity, access, and opportunity for all people and the elimination of oppression. We commit to eliminating oppression and work internally and externally to promote inclusion, equity, access, and opportunity for all people. More specifically, we work through the delivery of our acclaimed Human Interaction Laboratories (HI-Labs), experiential and human-centered workshops, and consultancies with teams and organizations worldwide. This work includes elements of diversity, inclusion, and equity.

We will leverage the skills of NTL members to focus on combating social injustice and racism. In order to make an impact, we will convene racial dialogues which will raise greater consciousness about white privilege and the manifestation and impact of oppression. We will also respond to critical incidents in the moment and the embedded oppression in systems with which we are engaged. In addition, we recognize that we have internal work to do to actualize our organization’s values and mission. We have launched an initiative to offer a number of dialogue groups internally, as well. 

We applaud the efforts of those who are raising their voices to stand against social injustice around the world. We appreciate you, we acknowledge you, and we stand with you to drive change. For those of you who would like to take action with us, you will find resources on our website at www.ntl.org.

George Floyd’s six-year-old daughter Gianna said, “Daddy changed the world.” Let us all unite and make Gianna’s vision a reality.

In solidarity,  

The Social Justice Hub of NTL