Black Lives Matter
If you’re like us, you’ve been moved & shook by the recent momentum of Black Lives Matter roiling the nation these past weeks. The deaths of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement, like those of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, can no longer go ignored. This is a time for all Americans to realize the time has come to finally, finally, finally confront systemic racism in our country, and put an end to police violence against Black Americans. This means many things, including taking an honest look at ourselves, our beliefs, our communities, our families, our institutions, our business practices.
Caramel Caravan is a small company. It’s made up of two co-founders, and currently has 2 (wonderful) employees. In that sense, we personally as co-founders pledge that we’ll continue our learning and discussion of racism in America. That includes: consuming books, podcasts, and other media, listening to black voices, and recognizing our own unconscious biases and honestly confronting them. It means having perhaps uncomfortable discussions, standing up for others when we witness injustice firsthand, making phone calls and sending emails to demand justice, and teaching our children about racism and system injustice. It will be an ongoing process and will require continuous vigilance. We believe that doing this type of work will help guide our mission and practices at Caramel Caravan Co.
However, beyond the work of our co-founders, we will engage in practices at Caramel Caravan Co intended to create a more equitable, anti-racist company which amplifies voices of diversity. This doesn’t mean “just hiring for diversity;” it means a commitment to ongoing learning, discussion, action, and vigilance.
This includes:
Having all employees complete paid racial sensitivity training on an annual basis.
Work to source more supplies and materials with an emphasis on finding Black-owned businesses.
Continue to commit to hiring a diverse staff.
Minimize our collaboration with suppliers who do not support our values as a company.
Use our platform to promote and network with Black owned and POC owned businesses. More specifically: working with POC and Black-owned businesses - especially women founded - for our social media giveaways, gift basket components, in-person events, and more.
We recognize these are small changes, and understand that we’ll make mistakes along the way. When we do, we hope to be held accountable by our community and change our actions in alignment with antiracist values. We are committed to doing the work for the remainder of our company’s life (which we hope will be many years!), and welcome you to join us. Feel free to ask us anytime about the progress we are making on the above mentioned items.
One way you can help is by supporting Black owned and POC owned businesses - many of which are small businesses, like Caramel Caravan Co:
Check out Esquire’s 30 Black owned food and drink businesses to support.
Spruce up your home with these 60 Black owned home decor businesses.
Show off your quarantine cooking skills with new items from Black owned food and kitchen brands.
Check out these Black owned Bay Area restaurants, as compiled by Eater SF.
Search Bay Area Black Market for Black owned businesses in the Bay Area.
But importantly, listen to Black voices and guides. From what we’ve seen, it’s extremely important to hear experiences, stories, thoughts, and recommendations from the very community that has been experiencing racism first-hand.
Start here: Black Lives Matter, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Grassroots Law Project.
We’ll be calling out and amplifying Black voices on Instagram (@caramelcaravan) - and saving these in our Story Highlights under BLM. Please see there for further Black led voices of changes, as well as what you can do to read, reflect, do, and more. Scared of terms like White Privilege, White Fragility, AntiRacism, and even Black Lives Matter? We aren’t experts, but we hope to lead you to them for clarification and debunking harmful myths.
This isn’t Black America’s problem. Institutionalized, normalized, hidden, overt, violent, horrific, continuing, debilitating racism is all of our problem. We ask you to make the change with us.