Black Lives Matter
The shocking and brutal murder of George Floyd has led to protests, demonstrations and campaigns across the world.
Serviceteam IT stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Serviceteam IT is a provider of technology services to businesses. We are apolitical, we have never, and we will never, align to any political party or political group. As such I have wrestled with this particular issue, and how to address it.
The Black Lives Matter movement is enormously important for our society today, and for the future of our society. Both Serviceteam IT, and I personally, support Black Lives Matter without reservation.
Employees, contractors, interns and service providers to Serviceteam IT will always be held to extremely high values, and will be expected to demonstrate those values with ease, because we hold them dear to our hearts.
Our relationships with our suppliers are largely very personal, as such Serviceteam IT has no need for suppliers who hold values contrary to our own.
Customers are the most important part of Serviceteam IT, every single one of them is valued greatly. However, if your organisation does not share the values of Serviceteam IT, there are many other technology services businesses who will be more suitable for your needs.
Sebastian Jesson-Ward, Director at Serviceteam IT
At Serviceteam IT, we have a responsibility and the platform to speak out against racism. This is a human rights issue.
Serviceteam IT would like to say loud and clear: We are anti-racist.
We want to promote resources which we will be using, and encourage others to use, to extend their research. Therefore, we would like to direct you to read Ash Mann’s blog post and explore the necessary resources their team have suggested. Substrakt is one of our customers and is also in the tech sector. A sector with a notorious lack of diversity. These resources should be used for education to be able to engage with these issues and to amplify vital organisations committed to social change. Any list will not be exhaustive and there are many resources which are hugely informative thanks to the Internet. However, if you are looking for a place to start educating yourself and your organisation, we urge you to follow this link to their website.
In addition to the resources cited in Ash’s article, here is a list of organisations which employees at Serviceteam IT would also like to direct readers to:
- Show Racism the Red Card is an anti-racism educational charity in the UK. The organisation provides workshops, training sessions and multimedia packages, to name a few resources, with the purpose of tackling racism.
- Runnymede Trust is an independent race equality thinktank in the UK with blogs, publications and further resources on their website.
- Say Her Name is based in the US and brings awareness to the stories of Black women and girls who have been victimised by racist police violence. The organisation provides a community of support and network of activism including the #SayHerName Mothers Network.
- UK Black Pride which is “Europe’s largest celebration for African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Caribbean-Heritage LGBTQ people”.
- Resourcing Racial Justice is an organisation which funds individuals and communities working towards racial justice. The organisation is a “coalition of people of colour (POC) innovators, change makers, activists, artists and social leaders dedicated to social change”.
Every one of these organisations, and more, are vital and need to be further recognised.
Serviceteam IT are conscious that as a business who works with the tech sector, we need to highlight the lack of representation in this industry. Please see below an article and a report which focus on how an organisation can help increase diversity in the tech sector.
- Diversity in Tech How To Increase Diversity in Tech
- Inclusion in Tech Diversity and Inclusion in Tech Guide
Black Lives Matter.