Bike Transit stands with the Asian American Pacific Islander community.
Bike Transit は、アジア系アメリカ人(AAPI)のコミュニティを支持しています
Ang Bike Transit ay nakatayo kasama ang komunidad ng mga Asyano-Amerikanong Taga-isla Pasipiko.
Bike Transit 和亞裔美國太平洋島民社區在一起
Bike Transit 는 아시아계 미국인 태평양 제도민 커뮤니티와 함께합니다.
Bike Transit ủng hộ cộng đồng người Mỹ gốc Á và người dân vùng đảo Thái Bình Dương.
Bike Transit ยืนอยู่คู่กับชุมชนชาวเกาะแห่งเอเชียอเมริกันแปซิฟิก
As Women’s History Month comes to a close we are reminded of our collective responsibility to stand against discrimination and hate. We, Alison and Carniesha, write this as two leaders who identify as various intersections of marginalized communities: female, Black, Jewish, LGBTQ, and we advocate for actions needed to address disparities and improve life outcomes for all. Racist, xenophobic and misogynic attacks on the Asian American Pacific Islander community are happening and deserve more attention and support from us all.
Our company, Bike Transit, stands with the AAPI community and their position on the realities of recent and past tragedies. While there may be conflict from media and others as to whether or not these are hate crimes, countless members from the AAPI community have stated these murderous attacks result from historical mistreatment of their community. The laws in our land historically make it difficult for marginalized communities to “prove” hate crimes and despite this, again we stand with and support what AAPI and other marginalized groups know to be true- unfettered hate results in lives lost.
Tuesday, March 17th hours before the tragic event in Atlanta where 8 people were killed including 6 Asian women and 1 Latina woman, we held our monthly companywide BOOST Coffee and Conversation where our topic for the month was bringing awareness to the underreporting of AAPI hate incidents. As colleagues we discussed what we can do to support AAPI anti-hate efforts and our colleagues who are a part of this community. We’re not committed to just having conversations, as a company we are committed to taking the journey of addressing how systemic oppressions like White Supremacy, racism and misogyny impact us an individuals, colleagues and community members.
We understand long term commitment is required—words and solidarity statements aren’t enough. To ensure both communities and riders see themselves in our actions and services, in 2020 Bike Transit developed a DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice) plan to deepen our previous efforts to improve internal and external business practices. While we have a long-term commitment, we also understand urgency and real time action is needed especially during times of devastation such as last week. Here at Bike Transit:
- Members of Bike Transit’s DEIJ Committee have enrolled in Bystander Intervention Training to Stop Anti-Asian American and Xenophobic Harassment offered through www.ihollaback.org. This will help guide future trainings and events offered to all employees.
- We are donating to AAPI-led community-based organizations in the cities of the bike share systems we operate, who provide critical services to AAPI and other community members as they address the needs of vulnerable individuals and families.
- We continue to elevate Bike Transit’s position on DEIJ issues internally and externally.
This is hard work and we believe in our collective ability to be the change we want to see in our communities and society as whole. We encourage our bike share industry colleagues and other stakeholders to join us in anti-hate AAPI and other justice driven actions!
In Solidarity,
Alison Cohen, Chief Executive Officer and
Carniesha Kwashie, Chief Equity and Strategy Officer