“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — MLK

STATEMENT AGAINST RACISM

The Board, staff and volunteers of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership want to address our community and supporters about racism and racial injustice in all its forms.

We recognize that the lives and experiences of people of color are different and more oppressive than the experiences of white people.

We must do all we can to enlighten and empower people to bring about positive change within the community.

We must continue to learn and grow from mistakes of the past while continuing to spread the word about the welcoming community culture that is both Tamaqua’s present and future.

As we see across the nation and the world, silence has devastating and dangerous consequences for people of color and negative impacts for the entire community. The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd are recent and very public examples of injustice. We know that racial injustice also happens every day in every community, in big and small ways, both purposefully and unwillingly.

We hear the voices and experiences of people in Tamaqua and across our nation and understand that racism stems from contempt, fear, privilege, and power. We are committed to creating a community that actively works to foster respect, understanding, equality and empowerment.

Since its founding in 1994, the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership worked to improve the quality of life in the Tamaqua Area. We recognize that we must continue building on our two-and-a-half decades of work and come together to counter racism and be more inclusive.

Tamaqua Area Community Partnership includes the Spirit of Christmas Festival, South Ward Neighborhood Committee, Tamaqua Community Arts Center, Center Stage Theater, Hope & Coffee, Tamaqua Remembers, Tamaqua STEP Up, Tamaqua Faith Fellowship Network, and Choose Happiness. Collectively we are an effort for positive change, and, as such, we can and must do more to ensure that change involves and impacts everyone in our community.

When we launched our Tamaqua Choose Happiness effort in 2019, we committed to the following vision: To be a town where people care if you’re happy.

We further committed to the following values:

• We acknowledge that EVERY Tamaquan has innate value and dignity.
• We are good neighbors.
• We have heart.

To uphold these values and achieve this vision, our efforts must be united as a community to fight racism and foster respect, understanding, equality, and empowerment. Our efforts will not be easy, quick, nor comfortable—but we are committed.

“The Tamaqua Area Community Partnership is a non-profit charitable organization that was expressly created to improve the quality of life in the Tamaqua Area; and to do so by being a conduit and a catalyst and a place for ideas and energy to go to accomplish improvements that will make a real difference in the lives of people who live here.” — Micah Gursky, TACP Executive Director