Black Lives Matter

Statement from Genesee Co-op FCU, June 2020

As a community, we are collectively mourning the tragic and unnecessary killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and David McAtee, to name some of the most recent lost black lives. We support the reinvigorated protest movement during the Coronavirus pandemic where black people have suffered some of the greatest harm, here in Rochester and nationwide. Black people in the United States should live with the same rights, opportunities, and protections as all other people.

For more than 400years black people have oppressively lived with the overwhelming weight of a system built on white supremacy**. Police violence, along with racism and discrimination in housing, health care, the judicial system, voting rights, employment, as well as lending and other financial services, have long formed the core of a system designed to favor some while keeping black communities from flourishing. This system of “structural advantage favors white people in social, political, and economic arenas.”**

We see this every day even at Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. We regularly work with black and brown members who face predatory interest rates or products from finance companies where white members have much more favorable rates. We do everything we can to help support these members. We help black members buy new homes, refinance cars at reasonable rates, and fight for equitable policy at the state level by participating in the NYS Equity Agenda Coalition. Yet we must confront our limited abilityon our own, to change this fundamentally unjust system and the damage it has wrought. We support black Americans’ call for justice and equality and for meaningful, long-term solutions to this systemic crisis including:

  • ending funding of a “militarized” police force and all forms of police brutality,
  • funding reparations for black communities, and,
  • creating an economy that works for everyone.

We all need a system that not only treats all people equally but repairs the damage done specifically to black Americans. We encourage all the member-owners of Genesee Co-op to join us in following the leadership of our black and brown members and community leaders as we rise up together for a more just and equitable nation and an economy that values racial equity at its core. Black Lives Matter.

 ** White Supremacy: “A system of structural advantage; favors white people in social, political, and economic arenas.” Baratunde Thurston, TED Talk: How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time.


Our Members make the difference.

Member Since 1982

"I joined the credit union when they first opened on Monroe Avenue. I wanted to build an account with a financial institution. I saw that they were new and I was starting new - so I thought it would be a good start! They were nice and courteous people. After they moved to South Avenue I wanted to buy a new car and they helped me with that and I have taken out personal loans with them too. They're more personal, a bank doesn't know you from the next 500 people. I always recommend them to people. The credit union looks at the things happening in your life and works with you. They know that people don't fail because they are not working on their life. Sometimes things just happen. I would like to get my next mortgage through them. I love them, they just fit my needs."

Francine Keeton


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