“Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind – even if your voice shakes…
…Well-aimed slingshots can topple giants. And do your homework…”
So here’s the homework:
The same systems that oppress me, oppress you too,
Right now, everyone has less, apart from the people who are trying to divide us…
The digital platforms that were meant to connect us, to bring us together, are driving us further and further apart.
And a small handful of people are benefiting from that by amassing untold wealth and power.
Diversity, literally means everyone, it means variety.
So asking you to take the boot off my neck is not radical – that same boot is also kicking you.
The new US administration will have the greatest impact on our mission at The 10,000 Interns Foundation since the death of George Floyd.
We exist to challenge underrepresentation, to ensure equal opportunity and experience for young Black talent.
And in the future we are building, we want every single person to be able to see themselves as an intern.
To believe they can have a seat at the table.
Not because they are Black. Or for that matter Disabled, or gay, a woman, white working class (because by increasing access and advocating for increased opportunity for one minoritised group we are opening the door for everyone)
But because we are talented.
To my mind, there’s only one thing in the world that is equally distributed and that is talent.
And talent is not about hoarding wealth, you don’t prove talent by amassing billions while hard-working people die by preventable means.
Everyone has something to offer – and everyone deserves the opportunity to prove that.
It is time to decide who you will be in this moment of turmoil.
And that means it is time for clear statements:
I’m not scared of Trump, I’m scared of everyone else’s silence.
Don’t turn away, don’t cut our funding, don’t roll back your commitments to our collective future.
Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind – even if your voice shakes.
Rebecca Ajulu-Bushell,
CEO