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WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

Peacebuilders’ role in the movement for racial justice

The killing of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked a powerful reckoning with racist violence, in the U.S. and around the world. As peacebuilders, we are determined to work for justice. Now is a time to walk alongside other changemakers and jointly build a more equal society.

Below are tips for individual and collective action in this pivotal time, drawn from our experience in resolving conflict and building just societies.

At Search for Common Ground, we operate in over 30 countries, with headquarters in the U.S. and Belgium. Everywhere we work, we have seen how racism, injustice, and discrimination destroy lives and create seemingly endless cycles of suffering.

But those cycles can be broken. We believe in the radical power of collaboration to move us forward—not symbolic, weak-willed compromise but genuine, courageous peacebuilding.

We refuse to accept the status quo. We also refuse to lose hope. We have an obligation to put marginalized voices at the center, heal trauma, and stand up to systemic violence. Here is where we can start.

I’m black. I’m a peacebuilder. I want your help.

“I don’t feel very peaceful. Right now I just feel pain. But as my 82-year-old grandma, who’s been through evolutions of racism, told me today: ‘A beautiful newborn comes after the mother’s agonizing labor.’”

Our statement after the killing of George Floyd

“Enduring change will only come when we evolve both our culture and our institutions to reflect racial justice. The power to do so rests in our hands.”

America’s identity crisis

“The United States is now having an identity crisis of its own. There are skeletons in the closets of every room in the American house—every aspect of the country’s history, culture, governance, wealth, education, and power.”

To confront racial violence in the U.S., we can learn from other countries

“Structural racism is not just an American problem... Debates about police, identity, and violence are happening in Jakarta, Paris, and Addis Ababa just as they are happening in Minneapolis, Atlanta, and cities across the U.S.”

Race in America: Peacebuilders' Perspective

“Slavery was extremely violent. Colonization was extremely violent. The American Revolution was extremely violent. So was Jim Crow. When you think about great peacebuilders of history, the way that they talk about violence includes the language that was used and the laws that were set up–the day-to-day, ongoing violence.”