To be silent is to be complicit.

This is what compels me to say something about the murder of George Floyd (and the countless racially stained ones before him).

I lead a small design firm. I’m responsible for making sure we do our jobs well. I also believe we should treat people well and be good citizens. Before now, I would not have said that it was our responsibility to fix society’s ills. 

But, as a CEO, as a Filipino-American, as a human being, I’m an example. What I do says something about what I believe. Saying nothing about black people being killed right in front of our eyes is the same as saying I agree with it.

Black people in America live in a system that actively works against them. 

We must change the system. 

We need to re-examine how all of us perceive fairness in this country. We need to question how we behave and how we think. We have to acknowledge the explicit biases that we both feel and show and the implicit biases that we subconsciously hold. We have to call these out. We have to say they’re wrong. 

Black lives matter, to me, and to EchoUser.

We stand in solidarity with our black colleagues, clients, and friends. We stand with all black people against the systemic racism they face in America.

Rally Pagulayan