To our friends and families, to our community, to our educators, to our current leadership, and to our students–the future leaders:
What is unfolding before our eyes is a somber reality of where we are as a nation, as a society, and as a global population. Black Americans have always known that racism permeates our systems, impacting their social, economic, and educational outlook—as well as their safety. Unfortunately, it took the incalculable loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee, and countless others for many of us to reach a tipping point. It is our responsibility to be anti-racist long after the initial outrage dies down.
A global pandemic could have brought us all together as one world, working together to solve for a common threat. This attack from another species was not enough to bring us together, but the threat of racism from within our own species has generated a necessary national and global outcry, an essential step in elevating us past a base level of thinking.
As an organization, our goal is to bring education to all students, regardless of age, gender, and socioeconomic status. We define education not only as the pursuit of knowledge but an openness to new ideas and an opportunity for change. We are committed to being part of the support system for marginalized students and a grossly undervalued community of educators. With them, we will do everything we can to make systemic racism a thing of the past.
As a team, these events have rocked us to our core. We want to learn. We want to be more proactive and less reactive. While we don’t presently have the resources to make large cash donations, we do have a unique opportunity to challenge racism at the classroom level. In an effort to do our part and secure equity in education, we commit to:
- A monthly cash donation to Being Black At School
- A monthly donation of Ozobot Classroom Kits to a school with predominantly black students
- Monthly visits to predominantly black schools, so our Edu and Engineering teams can provide teacher training; equip students, no matter their gender or skin color, to pursue roles in tech; and–most importantly–hear directly from teachers and students on what more we can do
- Be more open and transparent about our efforts to improve diversity and inclusion at all levels of our organization
- Regularly share lessons and/or teaching strategies to help educators talk about anti-racism in their classrooms
We will share updates on these efforts publicly on our blog and invite your feedback there or by emailing hello@ozobot.com.
A thousand ripples become a wave, and we are humbly throwing our pebble in with the hope that we are contributing to the wave of change.
Nader Hamda
Founder and CEO of Ozobot
