Dear Tattered Cover Customers and Staff,
We offer an unqualified and unequivocal apology for the statement we made on June 6. We apologize to our customers, our staff, our Friends of Tattered Cover, and to the entire community of readers, writers, and educators we serve. We are horrified at having violated your trust. We deserve your outrage and disappointment.
Tattered Cover will no longer stand by while human rights are being violated. To be silent is to be complicit, to be neutral in the face of injustice is an act of injustice itself. The passionate and thoughtful responses from you, our customers, and from our staff, have helped us learn that the policy of non-engagement is wrong-headed. We pledge that we will listen to and learn from our community and staff, and use Tattered Cover's voice as a force for good and positive change.
An apology is only a first step. We know we will be judged going forward by our words and our deeds, and we accept and embrace that. We will demonstrate through actions that these words are not hollow. We will listen to our staff, educate ourselves, and work with different organizations in the community to help us chart a path forward.
We are so very and truly sorry for the pain our words caused.
Tattered Cover stands in solidarity with our Black friends and neighbors, and grieves the senseless and brutal loss of life; not just of George Floyd and other recent victims, but of all of the Black lives lost from centuries of oppression and abuse. We believe with all our heart that Black Lives Matter.
There must be systemic change at the local, state, and national level. Tattered Cover will be part of this change, and we will hold ourselves accountable to our ever evolving community.
Thank you for helping bring us to this place, and again, we are sorry.
Len & Kristen