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Jun 12, 2020
by Stephen Salyer
Share Your Voice

We stand together to listen, learn and take action against racism and injustice in all their forms

As fury, protest and grief erupted across America and around the world these past two weeks, I have searched for authentic ways to express and channel my own anger and sadness over these latest killings of Black men and women, over the unravelling of my home country’s democratic norms and institutions, and over the best ways of responding personally and as an organization to deep-seated racism. 

Given my law training and prior career in media, the denigration of basic human rights, the abdication of responsibility to actually “protect and serve” all communities, and attacks on freedom of speech, assembly and press, also alarm me profoundly. 

Salzburg Global’s mission is to challenge current and future leaders to shape a better world. George Floyd’s death lays bare how very far we must go in places where we have close continuing connections – including Minneapolis, a city that many Salzburg Global Fellows call home and where I myself lived for many years and have family.  

If our eyes are open, all of us can see systemic racism in the places we live and work. We share a profound responsibility to confront and address these injustices with all possible means and with a sense of urgency.  

At Salzburg Global, we are mounting a deep reckoning with injustice and racism across our programs, partnerships and workplaces. We commit to strengthen our focus on these issues through our work on culture, education, health, urban development, philanthropy, media and LGBT rights to climate change, criminal justice reform, law, corporate governance and finance. Within our own organization and our offices in the United States and Europe, we will redouble our efforts to become truly diverse and inclusive.  

To this end, we are also launching an open space for our diverse global community to share views and ideas. How can Salzburg Global support our Fellows and partners as we collectively take up this challenge? Everyone is welcome, so if you have input you would like to share, please send it to betterworld@salzburgglobal.org.
 
We pledge to listen to, learn from and amplify your voices. 
 
Stephen Salyer
President
Salzburg Global Seminar
 

Photo by munshots on Unsplash