A Note On Today's Protests Against Injustice

I woke up to another day of televised and tweeted horror. Black people in our country are being targeted, oppressed, and killed. 

This is not new. As Americans, we inherited a history shaped and stained by racism. 

I spent most of today listening to my co-workers’ advice about what I can and should be doing. How to help the people I work with. How to help our community.

As an American, as a father, as a friend, as a neighbor, I know my responsibility to speak against injustice. What was not clear to me was if Glowforge should say something as a company.

My first reaction was – we make lasers. If our company spoke to the world about racial injustice, it would sound like grandstanding and attention-seeking. I didn’t know what we could add to the conversation.

But my brave and thoughtful co-workers challenged me. One of them told me: “When a company talks about something controversial, the nuance can be hard. But saying ‘racism is bad’ should be easy.”

They’re right. This should be easy.

Black Lives Matter.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter." -- Martin Luther King Jr.
@woodwhims.co

Dan Shapiro, CEO, Glowforge Inc.