Heinz Endowments CEO: In the Face of Violence, Silence is Not an Option

It’s safe to say that July, 2016 has not been an easy month, nor has it been our nation’s best time. Between the highly publicized police shootings of two more Black men and the subsequent killing of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, the news has been tough the absorb, and the rhetoric has been almost as bad. And now, as part of the global community, we also just witnessed the most horrific mass killing by a lone assailant in modern times in Nice, France.

So how do you make sense of all of this? What can and should we all do? There are no easy answers, but one thing is clear – we’ll have to do it together.

In that spirit of togetherness, Denny Civic Solutions has been honored to work with several leading foundations in Pittsburgh, including the Pittsburgh Child Guidance Foundation on homeless issues, the Pittsburgh Foundation on public policy, and with many community foundations across our state with the Campaign for What Works. Most recently, we have been working with the Heinz Endowments on lead poisoning research and policy development.

Recently, President and CEO of the Heinz Endowments Grant Oliphant helped give voice to the heartbreak and frustration we all feel for the violence and racial tensions we are witnessing, putting it succinctly:

“But I am not entitled to my silence. None of us are, not now, not in the face of this.”

In a blog post and podcast interview with Tiny Spark, Grant speaks from the heart on what the foundation community – and all of us – can and should do in the face of this senseless violence:

“This is what I have to give: To say on behalf of our institution, yes, yes, we see it. We see it and it is not ok. To say, we will do our part. To protest, along with you, ‘Enough, stop it, no more.'”

In saying so, Grant hammers home the same point: if things are going to change, we’re all going to have to change them together.