In Support of Black Lives Matter

Dear Students and Mentors,

 

Hey Mentor stands in solidarity with our Black students, the Black community, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. We stand for you and your fight for justice, in solidarity for collective efforts of movement building, resistance, organizing, and activism for Black liberation. We will not forget George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and the countless Black lives who were murdered through violence of the state. This magnitude of injustices that the Black community experiences from systems of white supremacy and anti-Black state sanctioned violence, all while entangled in a current pandemic that disproportionately and systematically impacts Black lives, cannot be ignored. We deeply acknowledge the anguish, especially the physical, emotional, and psychological trauma from countless Black lives lost to violence.

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As a mentorship organization with a mission to support underserved students in navigating pathways to higher education, we aim to hold ourselves more accountable in addressing needs particularly to our Black students. As we build educational mentorship curriculum and training with our mentors, our work will continue challenging ways we can unpack anti-Blackness, racism, and unjust biases in our own selves to better serve our students and the path of systemic change. To do our part in creating a future of equitable higher education access, it is a priority for us to actively increase accessible mentorship support, educational pathways, and opportunities for our Black students. We are committed to developing strategies that empower, transform, and uplift students and their communities.  

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We at Hey Mentor strive to go beyond just words in standing in solidarity, and seek to actively demonstrate our actions to advocate for Black lives and the collective movement. We must listen intently and not speak over our Black voices of our fellow students, leaders, and community members. Hey Mentor strives to amplify voices of the Black community and those who are challenging systems built on white supremacy, while doing our work to create appropriate spaces and educational curriculum in our organization to be actively anti-racist. To ensure a step for justice for the Black community—for the futures of our Black students—Hey Mentor plans to help raise and direct funds to organizations centered on leading the fight for Black lives. We will also share resources with tangible action items that are committed to shifting our present conditions towards actions of justice. We call on all those involved in Hey Mentor to go beyond just sharing images on social media, but to also educate ourselves in ways to dismantle exploitative systems of oppression, engage in donations for those with financial capacity, call/email lawmakers and officials, sign petitions, and collectively work to advocate for Black lives. We stand firmly alongside our Black students and community members, together in solidarity to enact a visionable future of justice.

 

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 In Solidarity,

 

The Leadership Team,

Hey Mentor,

Tiffany Wong, Hey Mentor Club President