Black Lives Matter and our Ongoing Commitment to Racial Justice
June 11, 2020
Hello molly moon’s friends,
So much has happened since you heard from us last. The world is still in the midst of fighting a global pandemic. The anti-racism movement has caught fire and gained momentum in ways that we hope will have lasting and permanent effects in making the world a more peaceful and just place for the black community in our city, our country and the world. We wanted to take the time to share what we’re doing as a company to support the movement for justice and equity, along with our friends from the NAACP, as well as what we’re doing in shops to keep our team and you, our beloved customers, safe.
First, Black Lives Matter.
Many of our mooncrew have been on the frontlines demanding justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tacoma’s own Manuel Ellis, and countless other black lives taken by police, and shouting for reform in one of the best ways they know how – by protesting. We are proud of their activism and their commitment to racial justice. They have been sharing information on social media and amplifying Black voices in our community. Our mooncrew truly embody our core value to ‘BE BRAVE.’
We’ve seen our customers and community dedicate themselves to listening, learning and engaging in activism over the past few weeks. It has been incredible to see everyone rally together to shout that racism is unacceptable and that although it has historically permeated every structure in our country, it does not belong in our systems and institutions. We have already seen this activism create change in our city and cities all across the country, as well as in Congress. We are optimistic that this beginning won’t end when the protests stop.
While we may not all agree on the details of how to make our society more racially just, we see uniform agreement that our society is racist, and the harms of racism are real. We will all need to work together on the solutions, and there is a spectrum of them. From defunding the police to reinvesting in community-based safety programs and restructuring our current systems and institutions including government, education and healthcare.
There are so many ways to affect change and to move towards our anti-racist future. They’re all important: protesting. advocacy. sharing information. lobbying. VOTING. We know first-hand how much voter education, registration and turnout can affect elections that in turn affect our community and our country. And we want everyone in the Black Lives Matter movement to get out and vote for Black Lives on their 2020 ballots.
Voter Education and Voter Turn Out with the NAACP
We’ve had a longtime partnership with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), this country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, with chapters all over the United States. We’ve partnered with them on equity work in the small business community in Seattle for years, and are continuing this partnership through a Get Out the Vote campaign focused on getting larger voter turnout of Black and PoC voters, as well as mobilizing the rest of our community to turnout and vote for progressive candidates and policies using a racial justice lens. This NAACP campaign is called The Power of Five, and we’ll be a major force championing this campaign up through our primaries on August 4th and then in the run up to the general election on November 3rd.
This Power of Five challenge encourages everyone to register five people to vote every week and send five weekly ballot reminders to voters leading up to elections. It challenges everyone to volunteer five days between now and the November election, whether with the NAACP or any other organization with a racial justice mission!
We believe that by spending our time and resources with the NAACP on this important work, we CAN make a difference at the polls this year. We know there are so many young, progressive, anti-racist potential voters in our city, county and state - and we want to make sure each and every one of them turns out this August and November. We want all of the protestors that have been out these past few weeks demanding justice for Black lives to demand justice at the polls. We’ve funded a social media manager for the Pacific Northwest Conference of the NAACP to make sure they have a strong voice and digital presence. We’re making sure all of our shops have info about this campaign available to customers. Our Capitol Hill shop will also be hosting a robust voter registration and education presence with volunteers from the NAACP, starting in the coming week. Come by to learn more about their mission and our goals - as well as easily register to vote.
Lastly, thank you for all of your support of molly moon’s over the last few months as we’ve weathered the storm of COVID. It has meant so much to us and we couldn’t have made it through this without you!
Seven of our shops have now re-opened, with slightly different hours and our Columbia City shop has become a production facility for grocery store pints for at least the next year. We’ve taken months to plan how to reopen and operate safely in a pandemic, and we hope to have ALL your cooperation and support as we do everything that we can to protect our employees and our community.
We are following CDC and King County Public Health COVID-19 guidelines and have implemented a number of safety measures to help keep our teams, our customers, and our communities safe. All of our shops are open for take out only - you can come for a scoop, a sundae, a pint or a cone but we’re asking you to please enjoy your ice cream outside of our shops. You’ll see a lot of signage and communication in shops to help maintain social distancing and safe practices - please take a minute to read and feel free to ask us any questions. For the time being, we are not accepting cash payments - you’re welcome to pay with a credit card, apple pay or a molly moon’s gift card.
Most importantly, we are asking all customers to WEAR A MASK when visiting our shops, even when ordering from our walk-up windows. This is the most effective way for us to protect one another, help contain the spread of the virus and operate safely in these uncertain times. We are asking each and every one of you to do your part to protect one another and our most vulnerable communities.
Tomorrow, our shops will be closed from opening until 5pm to allow our mooncrew to silently march in solidarity with the strike organized by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County.
These complicated times have no simple solutions, but molly moon’s will continue to do everything in our power to create a more just, peaceful, and healthy community for everyone. We hope that you join us on this journey with a filled out ballot in one hand and a scoop of ice cream in the other.
In Solidarity,
the molly moon’s crew