The BostonFIG organization collectively recognizes that the recent murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and Breonna Taylor are just the latest crimes perpetuated against the Black community in the United States of America. The deep-seated, systemic and structural racism that exists in this country poisons our lives and unfairly places power into the hands of oppressive institutions, police included.
We acknowledge the pain and anger of Black people who have endured innumerable acts of violence and aggression, both macro and micro in scale. The games industry is no exception, here.
For many years game spaces in the US have been predominantly white, cis-gendered, and heterosexual. This is not acceptable and we must take intentional and continued action to change this. We must bring an awareness to this fault, and create clear plans of action about how we will change.
Because of this, BostonFIG will be taking specific measures to ensure that we are living up to our stated value of diversity & inclusion. These actions include:
- Recruiting Black leadership, including board members
- Ensuring events are physically and also financially accessible, including creating additional scholarship options
- Committing to prioritize BIPOC communities when planning free educational programming
- Continuing to follow our zero tolerance policy and ensure our events are a safe space for all
For now, we want to step back and put the focus on Black Lives Matter (including our local Boston chapter) and other orgs that are doing this work. Please donate to or get involved with these causes if you are able.
We would also like to draw attention to the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, which is a great way to both enjoy games as well as support these essential causes.
We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Sincerely,
Caroline Murphy, CEO and the entire BostonFIG team