LBA’s Statement On Yesterday’s Verdict

During the past year, the death of George Floyd brought to light the continued systemic racism
and violence toward Black people in America. Through recorded videos we watched the horror
of an unarmed Black citizen dying at the hands of a white officer. The jury found the white
officer guilty on all counts and this verdict will provide the Floyd family and all of us with some
measure of relief that justice has been served as well as hope for a new beginning.
The Long Beach Accelerator (LBA) stands in solidarity with the Black community and other
communities that face the profound and ongoing challenges of systemic inequality and
institutional racism. As an Accelerator that spawns new companies we recognize that systemic
racism manifests not only in the physical violence captured on camera, but other actions such
as denying Black, and other marginalized communities, equity in health care, housing,
employment, education, access to capital and environmental quality that are needed to live
healthy and productive lives.

The LBA has been reflecting as an organization and as members of our communities to identify
actions that we could take to more actively promote equity and counter racism. It is a
fundamental tenet for the core mission of LBA to be explicitly anti-racist as silence on systemic
racism is complicity. We believe that it the responsibility of all organizations to address
institutional racism. LBA will ensure that our efforts are inclusive, equitable, and fully
supportive of all underserved and underrepresented groups who have historically been the
targets of racism, violence and discrimination. It is important that all organizations move
quickly from messaging to action.