DRW Statement on Systemic Racism and Violence

Disability Rights Wisconsin grieves for those killed in acts of racialized violence. We stand in solidarity with Black communities and individuals across the state and the country in calling out and rejecting police brutality and pervasive institutional and structural racism.
At Disability Rights Wisconsin, we fight against discrimination every day. We understand mechanisms of oppression and the impact they have on our clients. This discrimination causes disparate treatment in health care, employment, housing, education, criminal legal systems, prisons, and virtually every aspect of life and opportunity. DRW works in all these realms, and we see firsthand the way that systemic racism operates to compound injustices at the intersection of race and disability. This is evident in the death rate among Black Americans due to COVID-19, many of whom are people with disabilities. This is evident in the increased risk of harm and even death faced by Black people with disabilities when confronted by law enforcement. This is evident in the high levels of incarceration of people of color with disabilities.
As a civil rights organization dedicated to social justice, Disability Rights Wisconsin unequivocally condemns this racist violence and calls for immediate and meaningful reform. We renew our commitment to address structural racism through our work, both by looking within, through our client work, and in our pursuit of institutional change. And finally, we emphatically state that Black Lives Matter.

Here is a printable version of this statement.