To Our Community and Colleagues,

Collectively, PYATOK architecture + urban design demands justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and thousands across generations who have lost their lives to racial prejudice. We stand with all Black Americans, Indigenous and People of Color who are struggling against prejudice in our society, aggravated by profound economic differences that are now the worst in the industrialized world. We protest the militarization of our police. We demand a more honest conversation about race, class, and economic injustice at every level of our society. We stand with communities throughout the Bay Area who struggle to survive waves of displacement that have been rolling through our cities for far too many decades. We stand with the under-housed, the currently and formerly incarcerated, the unemployed, under-employed, and under-paid exploited workers, the undocumented residents, and every person without full access to legal and human rights. We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter and the End Police Brutality movements. We stand for basic human rights and economic justice for all.  

Collectively, through our professional efforts and our advocacy, we commit to the following practices:

• We will confront the systemic causes of racial and economic injustice in our communities, professional and personal.
• We will have honest and open conversations with each other, our neighbors and our colleagues about race, class, and power.
• We will provide a platform for members of PYATOK to pursue racial and economic justice.
• We will create opportunities for more Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to choose our profession and to share the access to levers of power and capital that shape our cities.
• We will provide immediate and on-going support for local groups working to end racism and classism.
• We will work with our colleagues in housing and community development to identify and implement opportunities for design professionals to address racism and economic justice directly at the local level, and nationally by setting an example of how our profession can be reinvigorated as a force for racial and social progress.
• We will aspire as architects to stand in the shoes of the other to support human rights and economic justice for all.