Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Our Mission

Stand Up America’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is key to our mission of building a more representative democracy and reforming a political system that has given white, wealthy Americans a louder voice and more power than Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) for far too long.  

We are working to help pass anti-racist policies that reduce the impact of money in our politics, expand voting rights, and ensure millions of Black and Brown Americans have an equal voice in our democracy, at the ballot box, and in the halls of legislatures across the nation.

Building a more representative democracy is an essential step toward enacting policies like health care for all, climate justice, and criminal legal reform that will benefit people of every gender identity, age, race, sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic status, religion, and national origin.

Our Gratitude 

In taking part in the important work of building a more representative, multiracial democracy, we recognize that many have come before us. In particular, we recognize that many Black Americans have sacrificed, suffered, and died in the pursuit of the right to vote, and the right to see themselves represented in our democracy. We are humbled by the continued contribution and leadership of grassroots BIPOC leaders, especially Black women, in the modern-day movement for voting rights and equal representation. We are deeply grateful for their work and sacrifice.

Our Journey

Stand Up America was founded in 2016 to resist Trump’s corrupt agenda. Initially, we worked on a broad set of progressive issues, from protecting the Affordable Care Act to opposing conservative Supreme Court nominees. In late 2018, we decided to focus our advocacy primarily on democracy reform, which is inseparable from the struggle for racial justice. 

In our early days, we often failed to be explicit about the racialized impact of the Trump administration and its policies. When we shifted our focus to democracy reform, we were slow to articulate the connection between our new mission and racial equity and to ensure we were centering diverse perspectives in decision-making.

Our Commitments

We recognize that our democracy was founded with the intent of giving power to white men who owned property, who used their power to deny Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, and the poor the right to vote. Indeed, American democracy is rooted in a history of systemic racism, classism, and sexism, which continues to this day.

For centuries, far too many in power have used violence, intimidation, and discriminatory laws to prevent BIPOC Americans from voting. Rampant voter suppression continues to prevent millions of Americans from having a voice in government—skewing power in favor of white Americans. 

We commit to changing that.

We commit to building a multiracial democracy that increases political representation and power of Black, Indigenous, and people of color, while reducing the influence of white, wealthy donors.

We commit to being explicit about who benefits from the current political system and who we seek to empower through the reforms that we advocate for, and to educating our community about those realities. 

We commit to working with and listening to organizations led by people of color, nationally and at the grassroots level, to ensure that our work is grounded in the lived experiences of those we aim to empower through our advocacy. In our state and local work, we commit to taking the lead of local organizers and experts, particularly BIPOC leaders. 

We commit to centering diverse perspectives, internally and externally, when setting our strategic, political, and programmatic priorities. 

We strive to recognize, respect, and encourage the contributions of our team members, our community members, and our partners of every gender identity, age, race, sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic status, religion, and national origin.

As an organization focused on digital mobilization and organizing, we recognize that BIPOC staff and leaders are underrepresented in the digital space across levels and in nearly every sector, including democracy reform organizations.

We commit to building, retaining, and elevating a team that reflects the diversity of our nation through equitable hiring, compensation, and advancement practices.

We commit to ongoing DEI training and educational opportunities for our team to learn independently and together about the impact of systemic oppression in our democracy.

Finally, we commit to working together to ensure that this statement is not just a document, but a living representation of who we strive to be and what we seek to accomplish.