Perspectives

Social Justice Now

Matthew Pacione & Shawn Cole

June 15, 2020

A list of black lives lost to violence by authority

Over the past several weeks, we have observed the brutal killings of Black and people of colour in the United States, including, but not limited, to Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. These brazen, disgusting events are part of a much larger system of racism and oppression targeting people of colour in North America and across the world for hundreds of years.

Humanistic stands in solidarity with the Black community and with social justice. We acknowledge the grief, pain, and exhaustion that many of our clients, peers, and the broader community are experiencing right now. The last few weeks have once again exposed the deep inequities, injustice and pain caused by anti-Black racism in the US, around the world – and right here at home in Canada.

As a small design practice focused on human-centred design, we have a principle that states that “humanistic design should be good for humans and the environment”. We stand by that principle – but these words and empathy are not enough. As individuals, and as an organization, we must also take action to address the inequities that exist, and work to dismantle all forms of racism and oppression.

In the fields of design, research, and technology, there is a well-documented lack of racial diversity that is far from being rectified. At Humanistic, we recognize our white privilege and must do better in examining the Eurocentric structural and systemic forces at work in our field. At a social level, we urgently call for politicians and leaders to enact community policing and prison reforms, in addition to programs that account for these systemic forces and forms of implicit or explicit bias.

Clearly, this will take work, and this work has taken on increased urgency here at Humanistic Design. Like any sufficiently complex systems problem, it can be difficult to know where the leverage points are to enact change. This is why we have assembled a list of places you can donate, petitions you can sign, and resources where you can learn more. Please consider joining us to contribute via the links below, and committing with us to building greater equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-oppression in the innovation field, and our world at large.

Black lives matter.

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