YWCA Statement on Air Force veteran Ramona Cooper and retired State Trooper David L. Green

This past weekend in Winthrop, Air Force veteran Ramona Cooper and retired State Trooper David L. Green, were targeted and murdered in yet another heinous act of racism and anti-Blackness. We mourn with their families. We stand with our Black community who has endured generations of pain and systemic violence.

White supremacy and racism are here in Massachusetts and in each of our communities. Each and every day we all bear witness to the deep and systemic ways racism permeates the very core of our society. It is in our places of work and worship, in our schools and on our streets. It is a public health crisis and collectively we must fight this disease. Silence only serves to uphold systems of oppression. Denial emboldens their existence. And it costs lives.

We continue the call to all members of our community to critically and radically examine how we, as individuals, continue to uphold racist systems and perpetuate racism and anti-Blackness.

Then have these conversations with your friends, your family, your colleagues, your communities. We must question system-level disparities and take deliberate and urgent action to dismantle them.

At the YWCA, we will not give up on that work until justice for our Black community, just is.

YWCA Central Massachusetts is on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, help families and strengthen our community. YWCA Central Massachusetts is part of an international movement serving over 2 million in the United States and 25 million worldwide. For comprehensive information about this important work, go to: www.ywcacm.org and www.ywca.org.

Alyssa Mancinelli
Development & Communications Specialist
Email: amancinelli@ywcacm.org