Black Lives Matter: Read Irene's message to the Mei Mei team today
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This morning I joined our team on Zoom to read a message, which I would like to share with you all as our Mei Mei community today:
Good morning, everyone.
As you know, our city and our country are in turmoil right now. There is pain, anger, and despair over the centuries of oppression of Black communities that our country was built on and the violence that continues today. Some of us are seeing this pain for the first time. Some of us live this pain in their bones, in their DNA. But in this moment, our collective attention is united, at least relatively speaking. Again, we are pressing for change, and again, we have hope that it will come.
I don’t know how to run a business in this time. But I do know that sales can be recouped, property if lost can be replaced. Our wellness, and our very lives, on the other hand, can’t. And I know that doing business as usual right now is not just tone-deaf - it would also be an erasure - of the violence, of the movement, and by extension, of you, our team, and the very real feelings and experiences that mark this difficult time.
So today we’re suspending operations, including remote work, to provide ourselves time to process, reflect, and act. We will be cancelling or significantly changing all business-related social media for the week. I will be reaching out to each of you to make a small donation ($100) on your behalf to a community organization, bail fund, or individual of your choosing. The funds will come from me personally. I have some money I set aside for expansion projects and this feels like a good use for some of it, since the successful growth of our business will require our society to be safer and more equitable and as soon as possible. And I will coordinate our social media for the week and will invite any of you to share your reflections, your hopes, your anger, etc. with our community using our platform.
This is not normal. I don’t want you to pretend that it is. I want you to take care of yourselves and the people you love. And when it comes to work, tomorrow and next week and next month, I just want you to do your best. And when you can’t do your best, I want you to hear your voice and learn how to support you.
Compartmentalization is a survival tactic and something that every day life often demands. I know that as your employer, I ask you to compartmentalize all the time. If you’re having a bad day, we still ask you to smile at guests. If you’re feeling lost, we still ask you to focus on the grill, or the dish pit. But we can’t compartmentalize all the time. And I definitely don’t want to on a day like today.
I hope that you can take today to do whatever you need to do, whether that is going on a walk, calling someone you love, or watching TV in bed. I’m not going to tell you how to feel or act, but I do ask that you find someone to connect with today, and do something that helps you feel human.
Meetings for today will be rescheduled to tomorrow. Please look to your sprint leaders for more details on how your workflow will be altered. If you don’t want to be alone, I’m happy to have you join me at the restaurant to pack groceries. We will feed over 80 families and pack our a ton of food. I think for me it’s a small, good thing to do on a day like today.
As the days pass, I hope that our community still feels intentional, and our work still feels purposeful. I would love to hear how else Mei Mei can do for you and for the community and how else we can make work even more purposeful. We’re already reimagining the business - no idea is off limits. I want this to be a business you are proud of. I want this to be a community that holds space for pain, but also generates hope.
How YOU CAN HELP
I am asking you to also use whatever platform you have — be it your followers, friends, or families — to press for change and support Black voices today. Use your voice AND your wallet if you can. Below are organizations I’ve contributed to and hope you check them out.
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Official George Floyd Memorial Fund
Minnesota Freedom Fund
Reclaim the Block
Black Visions
Southern Poverty Law Center
Who you can support locally TODAY
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Even on days without big headlines or protests, Black communities need you to support, and to practice anti-racism. Black-led community organizations need you. Black-owned businesses need you. Black-owned restaurants need you. They need you not only today, but also tomorrow, next month, and next year.
