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At a November 24 roundtable on the urgency of the Black women’s employment crisis, YW Boston President & CEO Aba Taylor shared the reflection below:

We the canaries ask you to look at who is struggling and who is thriving right now? Who are getting bigger paychecks and who are living check to check? Who are remodeling their big houses and who are trying to figure out how to get food on the table?   

In all these instances, women and people of color, and black women in particular (as the canaries in the coal mine), are pawns in these destructive ideologies and systems that are specifically designed to keep most of us down, fighting against each other and turning away from each other. How easy is it to dismiss this unemployment crisis and turn our backs on women of color and especially Black women, because we have always been the punching bag for this country’s sins. 

What those in power are counting on is that society will ignore and dismiss the injustices of black women, because we are Black women, not realizing that those same injustices are at everybody’s doorstep and already at the table for some.   

If we want real progress, then we the canaries must sing and be heard. We help build this economy and we belong in this economy just like everyone else.  Until Black women and all women, people of color, immigrants, trans and gender expansive folks, those with different abilities, and all those who are pushed to margins can enjoy the birthrights of safety, security and mobility like everyone else, we are all at risk… because none of us are free until we are all free. (Quote by Fannie Lou Hamer)