“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”  – James Baldwin January 14, 1962.

Racism in our society is real, obvious in some ways and subtle in others. We risk our future if we underestimate and doubt how seriously prejudice and discrimination damages us as a people. We must change.

The company culture at Aperture Optical Sciences is based on the belief that we can all be better people than we are. Fundamental to that premise is the recognition that to create a better future we must first face our current failures. True change can be painful. It requires that we leave our comfort zone and stretch. We apply this principle in our work everyday, but we must also apply this principle to the current social crisis for the sake of our co-workers, customers, suppliers and our community. The source of prejudice, discrimination and bias can be found in each of us – but we can overcome this if we have the courage to recognize it and respond. This is not someone else’s problem it belongs to each of us as citizens of our world.  We acknowledge the pain experienced by people of color and those who have suffered as a result of discrimination and ever-present biases.

We believe diversity and Inclusion empowers us, provides broader perspective and enables the essential ingredients for creative solutions and innovation. We believe diversity is to be embraced. We believe in creating an environment where everyone, from any background, can thrive and can find equal access to opportunities that allow them to grow and advance. We value our differences.

We may not be able to donate millions to just causes, or appoint executives to oversee the implementation of sweeping policies of fairness and inclusion. But we are agile, innovative, and passionate about what we do. We believe that meaningful change begins with individual people. Here are some steps we are taking to contribute toward a more equitable and inclusive society.

• We are opening dialog among our employees to make topics of race easier to talk about
• We’ve updated our employee handbook and policies to emphasize diversity and inclusion
• We’ve initiated training opportunities to educate ourselves
• We are examining our internal stats on employment and have made it a strategic priority to elevate diversity within our team
• We are now seeking out opportunities to support our community to make opportunities more accessible to our disadvantaged population.

It may not sound like much, but its just a start and we’re getting really good at getting better.