June 2020 Team Statement on Equity & Diversity
Strokes Admin
The Strokes Board of Directors emailed our athletes and their families the following statement on June 10 2020, in response to the world-wide protests and the Black Lives Matter movement:
To our community,
We at Oakland Strokes are saddened and outraged by the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and scores of Black men and women before them. We recognize that these murders are not aberrations, but tragic manifestations of centuries-old systemic racism and oppression. We cannot fully comprehend the loss experienced by their families and friends or by their communities. We share in their grief and anguish.
But we must do more. To start, we must answer the question of what we can do – in action, not in mere words – to help eradicate the entrenched inequality in the rowing community and in the communities in which we row. Toward that end, we are committed to looking honestly at the culture within our organization and the boathouse and to taking the following steps:
First, we are working to increase the awareness of our Board, coaches, athletes, and their families of our privilege, the role that it plays in systemic oppression, and how it can be used to effect positive change. Through the leadership of our athletes and coaches, we are connecting members of the Strokes family with educational resources, opportunities for activism, and names of organizations that are engaged in this fight and that need our help.
Second, we are redoubling our commitment to our long-standing Community Outreach Program. Through this program, Oakland Strokes has built partnerships with Oakland schools and community organizations to introduce Black youth and other youth of color to rowing. While we are proud of our Community Outreach Program and the tireless work of our coaches and staff, we can do better. The Board has established a working group that will pursue expanding our collaborations with community organizations and enhancing the opportunities and programs that we offer. We will communicate the specific steps and actions that result from this effort.
Third, we will continue to use our platforms to express our support for the Black community, to help raise awareness of the continuing inequality in our sport, and to promote ways in which members of the Oakland Strokes community can engage in the fight against systemic racism and work to bring greater diversity and inclusion to rowing.
Our organization was founded on and is guided daily by the principles of teamwork, selflessness, humanity, and accountability. Those principles require us to reject complicity through silence and to act.
Black Lives Matter.
In solidarity,
Oakland Strokes Board of Directors and Executive Director
Additional information and educational resources can be found on our social media sites: Instagram & Facebook.
Two Strokes alumni, Nyah and Kelly ‘19, started @rowers4BLM- a global, virtual ‘ergathon’ and have since raised over $20,000 from the rowing community for national civil rights organizations. View their Instagram for educational resources, organizations, and to donate.
Listen to the ‘Rowing in Color’ podcast, about promoting diversity within our sport.
Read USRowing’s updated statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and their DEI Resources Page. USRowing members can also view their educational webinars.
Learn about Strokes Community Outreach Program here.