By Mary Moss and Susan Ross.

One week ago, we joined the nation in witnessing yet another atrocity — the murder of an unarmed Black man captured on video. What happened that day has left another image burned in our memory of what systemic racism looks like. The image of George Floyd joins those of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others. We grieve their unnecessary and untimely deaths, and we also grieve the violence that has erupted in response to these events.

This is our home, and everyone who works with our moss+ross team loves it dearly. We grew up in Durham, went to college in Chapel Hill, raised our families in Durham and Raleigh, and built our company in the Triangle. Our mission statement: impact that matters in a place we love, is built on our stated core belief of commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Yet as we sit here a week later, reflecting on America’s history of racism, and the latest atrocities, we realize we must do more. We cannot share life experiences with people who have been victims of racism, but we can share our voices of empathy, care, and love. We can work hard with our nonprofit partners to address the issues that face our communities.

We have asked ourselves and our team, how can we all do more to help? Here is what help looks like to us:

  • Help is not being silent. Learn from what has happened. Then speak out. Our voices matter. We must use them and whatever platforms we have to let others know we will not tolerate racism.
  • Help is about compassion and empathy. Don’t preach, reach. Help is reaching out and connecting with people of color we know to let them know we care about them and love them. We must all get out of our comfort zones.
  • Help is being overtly open-minded. Let’s seek out diverse perspectives through training and engagement, through reading more or taking classes. We cannot let this become just another week of another killing. Let’s look for ways to prevent it in the future.
  • Help is changing behavior from observation to action. We will all have to change to meet in the middle. Or do even better than that. If we all do just one thing on this list, that’s a start.
  • Help is holding hands together.This problem cannot be solved by any one person, and we must stand beside one another in solidarity. This must be addressed by people of all colors.

This is our platform, and our call to action. We will do all we can to be heard, to reach out, and to support the community we love.

With a warm heart and outstretched hands,

Susan and Mary