The staff at Avow Texas condemns the actions taken by All Above All’s steering committee and executive staff to layoff their workforce amid anti-Blackness concerns and investigations. To that extent, we request the removal of our name from their partners list.

We stand in solidarity with the former All Above All staff who were laid off and affirm that they deserve better. Let us be clear, there can be no Reproductive Justice without workers’ rights and there can be no Reproductive Justice without centering the safety of Black people. We will continue to stand with repro workers and play a role in holding partner organizations, and ourselves, accountable for anti-Blackness and anti-worker actions.

People don’t publicly and anonymously come out about concerns of harm unless they have reason to believe that there is no other option — and that the organization would not take those concerns seriously without external accountability. The actions taken by All Above All’s leadership reinforce this. There is no excuse for laying off your entire staff amid these concerns and passing it off as restructuring.

We know this could have been handled differently, because we have engaged in these processes differently. As an organization, Avow Texas has and continues to engage in accountability work in regards to anti-Blackness within our coalition space and our organization. We haven’t been perfect in our accountability processes, but we have been transparent and sat with the necessary discomfort. We know that doing so makes us a better and safer organization. Anti-Blackness and anti-worker dynamics are pervasive in our movements. We invite anyone reading this but especially those in the reproductive health, rights and justice space to interrogate the ways hierarchical nonprofit structures uphold anti-Blackness, how we ourselves also uphold anti-Blackness in and out of our workplaces and to commit to concrete actions that make our workplaces safer for Black people.

We can’t give lip service to social justice values; we have to embody them in our lives, in our workplaces and most importantly when we’re asked to lean into conflict and accountability. Our movements are only as strong as our relationships and strong relationships require trust, transparency and accountability. The All Above All steering committee and leadership failed to live up to those values with their decision and Avow Texas cannot continue a partnership where these values are not honored.