The Fairwinds Commitment to Black Lives

We denounce the horrific murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, as well as the other unjust murders of Black people at the hands of police officers and white supremacist groups around the country. We acknowledge that for every person like George Floyd who receives media attention, there are many more who do not. 

We also acknowledge that these killings are but the tip of a far bigger iceberg; namely, the deeply seated roots of racism and white supremacy in our country. This ideology has been at the center of violent social conditions that disproportionately affect Black people. 

Since the moment this latest wave of uprisings began, we wanted to do more than make a press statement. Together, we went to the drawing board to determine how we, as a company, could break away from the complicity of silence and do our part to help bring healing and justice. 

As a result, we have committed to the following in support of Black lives in our company, nationwide, and around the world: 

• Over the next 30 days, we will develop an action plan to add and sustain Black leadership on our board and executive team, not just as mere tokens but as people who influence our company at every level. 
• We will address the generational wealth disparity caused by systemic racism by providing one Black-owned business backend infrastructure support for 3-6 months. 
• We will work with partners to create scholarship funding for aspiring Black youth to become engineers, start companies and find jobs in the tech community.
• As part of the Kubernetes community, we will develop a process around recruiting and using minority-owned/led suppliers and vendors when possible. 

We will provide ongoing updates on our progress in these areas and more. Meanwhile, time to get to work. 

The Fairwinds Team