The Penguicon Board of Directors believe that Black Lives Matter, and believe in racial equity for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).
We grieve for the lives lost in the continuing systemic racism and violence, as shown in recent events including the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and refuse to be silent.
We think that the philosophy behind Open Source requires supporting the education and participation of a diverse group of people.
Though we have taken small steps in recent years to provide spaces for our BIPOC community members to more comfortably support each other, we know that we can do more as an organization (especially outside of the convention itself), and are committed to doing so. While we have some ideas for changes we can make, the Board of Directors is aware of their relative privilege and want to hear from the Penguicon BIPOC community about what they think we should be doing as a non-profit community education organization to include and support marginalized voices.
To that end, at our next board meeting in June we will be discussing the creation of a Board-appointed position for Diversity and Inclusion that exists year-over-year, and will share with you next steps for recruitment and selection as soon as we can. We encourage people, especially our BIPOC attendees, to email us with either any constructive feedback or whatever else they want us to hear. We are here to listen first, and look forward to having productive discussions within our community.
We encourage you to listen to black voices to find out how you can help support anti-racism and their fight to not be indiscriminately killed. One resource is www.ally.wiki, where you can find petitions, donation options, education resources, and ways to contact officials. Please contact us if you’d like us to share other resources, especially for related projects in the open source and science fiction communities.
All lives will not matter until and unless Black Lives Matter. If you believe that black lives aren’t as important as white lives, we have no interest in you being a part of our community.
