AEG cannot, and will not, remain silent at this moment in history. We must stand witness to what we see and what we know and we must act on that knowledge.

Black Lives Matter. The recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and so many more have broken our hearts. America’s failures to make safe our society for our Black brothers and sisters is a horrible and continuing wound to our society.

Our policing system is broken and must be fixed.

But we must acknowledge that the police are us. Police are the government, and We the People are the government. What we have done, we have done ourselves and to ourselves and we are mutually accountable and responsible.
We also recognise that the struggle in the United States is part of a worldwide struggle that all people of color face.

Our nation was founded on protest against Intolerable Acts by the government. Our right to assemble and speak is the bedrock of our Constitutional system. Civil disobedience and protest are our inalienable rights and when we exercise those rights we have power. Our freedoms and our ability to make change are rooted in our ability to force our system to recognize its failures and to hear our voices. We cannot, and will not remain silent in the face of the government using force to silence these voices and quell these protests by force. The use of the police and the military during protests to do more than protect lives and property is abhorrent and it must cease.

At this time the conditions in our society are uniquely challenging. We have decided that the best way we can leverage our privilege is to redirect our charitable giving campaign towards the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU, who are on the forefront of legal challenges with high impact on police procedures and liability, the right to protest and be free of the use of force by the government while protesting, and for the continued right to speak truth to power.
This will be an ongoing commitment which we will review periodically to ensure that we’re doing the best we can with what we have to make positive change.
AEG will continue to look for ways to use our capabilities to support a more just and equitable world.
#blacklivesmatter