Anti-Racism

June 11, 2020

To my customers, friends, and fellow business owners:

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge an unfortunate truth. When it comes to racial and social injustice, Tiny Badger as a company, and I as its founder, have not been participating in effective anti-racist practices. We have not done enough.  

Up until now, I have not put intentional effort towards anti-racist actions, and since Tiny Badger is a one-woman operation, my company, by extension, has not put forth those intentional efforts either. 

I want to apologize for my negligence and for my ignorance. 

From now on, I am committed to doing better. 

White supremacy exists in every facet of our society. It is not just a value held by the fringe racist extremists that we all know exist. It is a pervasive part of our national history and culture, and it permeates everything that we were ever taught. It lives inside of us in ways that most of us are completely oblivious to. I am committed to actively educating myself, so that I can explore and continually weed out the white-supremacy that exists both within my business, and within myself. 

What does this look like for me and my business? After all, platitudes and apologies are just that, and for real change to occur, real action needs to take place.

Here is what I am committed to doing, both as a business, and as a human being on this planet:

I commit to acknowledging racism and white supremacy, and to calling them what they are. Continuing to be silent, pretending that they don’t exist, or refusing to talk about them, will not change anything. You can expect to see anti-racist content in my social media feed going forward, alongside all the pretty pots.

I commit to a long-term and continual engagement in anti-racist education for myself. I have already started on this journey, and I intend to stay on the path for the rest of my life. I am reading, researching, and listening to black voices, and I will continue to do so. 

As an imperfect human, I will inevitably make mistakes in my long-term dedication to anti-racism. I am committed to recognizing these mistakes, apologizing for them, learning from them, and changing my behavior accordingly. 

The wealth and resource disparity in this country is directly linked to structural racism and white supremacy. It is both disturbing and unacceptable. Investing in black businesses, communities, and organizations is a critically important way to begin repairing this resource disparity. I am fully committed to investing in black communities and organizations whenever and wherever possible. For now, that will take the shape of donating 10% of all my retail proceeds every quarter to organizations that fight racism and inequity in all its forms.

I also commit to investing a portion of my monthly expense budget in black owned businesses. This will take a little more time to implement, but I will be researching and working towards purchasing from black owned businesses and vendors wherever I can. If you have recommendations, for anything from business cards to box suppliers, I would love to hear them. 

Dismantling racism and white supremacy won’t happen overnight, but I am committed to pursuing my role in the long-game. We all have A LOT of work to do in order to live in a world that is fair, equitable, and just for everyone. I'm here to do my part, today and every day. 

-Heather   (the captain, and lone crew member, of this little ceramic ship)