As advocates for equal rights and justice for more than 45 years, we stand with those engaged in
the fight against systemic racism, prejudice, and discrimination. Our work regularly brings us
face-to-face with institutionalized racism, bias, and discrimination directed to older adults of
color and its impact. Many have lived through a lifetime of deeply embedded structural
discrimination in housing, employment, education, and lending, denied the right to own a home
in a neighborhood with good schools, clean air and water, and access to healthy foods.
Data starkly highlights the impact of generations of racist policies. To address this disparity in
economic well-being, it is important that we explicitly identify the role structural racism and
white misanthropy has played in creating that disparity. As we continue the work we do in
behalf of some of society’s most vulnerable members, we pledge work with aligned
organizations to do more to name and dismantle the institutionalized racism and white
misanthropy that has brought us to this point.
We are taking deliberate steps to create an environment within CARIE that fosters transparency,
supports open communication, and ensures spaces and opportunities for all staff to feel safe and
valued and to thrive. We will use our collective influence to instill anti-racism practices within
the broader systems we engage including long-term care and healthcare systems, housing,
criminal and civil justice, guardianship, transportation accessibility, and the broader aging
system at the local, state and federal level. We hereby commit to bring resources, talent, and
energy to the fight to end racism in all its forms and wherever it may live.
