A Personal Statement
As the owner of Zephyr United, I am the one who sets the tone for our company. I am proud we have welcomed all types of people on our tours and at our conferences for over two decades. I am also proud of the protests I have participated in, in states such as Montana, Texas, and New York. I believe my intentions are sound and those of Zephyr’s employees are sound.
As the father of a young daughter, I teach her that if she ever has a problem, she can go to a policeman or policewoman for help. It makes me so angry to think that a large group of my fellow American citizens do not feel comfortable telling their kids the same thing. This is simply unacceptable.
We need to shift the paradigm. We need systemic change in America to correct the injustices we inflict on large numbers of our citizens. We cannot wait for politicians to make these changes for us. We at Zephyr United will commit to being part of the solution.
2020 Events
If we have all learned something from the brutal and senseless murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests in 2020, it is that we in the United States are not doing enough to combat racial inequalities. We need systemic change. This is true not just for racial equality but for other forms of equality including religious, gender, and sexual orientation.
Part of the Problem
What is less clear is what one small company can do to help. We at Zephyr United have consciously tried to be impartial on race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. We work hard to ensure all of our tour and conference attendees feel welcome, no matter who they are or what they believe.
But we are now realizing simply being open and accepting of minorities is not enough. We, too, can do better to contribute to the change that is so obviously necessary in our country.
Our Planned Actions
We at Zephyr United pledge to take the following actions to improve our own position in helping to change our country to become more equal.
- We will encourage employees in their personal efforts to bring about change in their local communities and beyond.
- We will strive to educate ourselves about racial and other inequalities.
- We will provide at least one educational talk on all tours about equity and diversity in the local area, be it a recent racial event or the history of the native population of the region.
- We will go beyond being color, gender, and sexual orientation “blind” to actively reach out to minorities for positions such as board members or speakers at our conferences and guides for our tours as these positions become available.
- We will make a more focused effort to ensure minorities feel welcome on our tours and at our conferences by having inclusive language and images on our websites and social media postings.