In the midst of a global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, like many of you, we felt it was necessary to respect the movement and start listening. Many of the day to day communications we are used to having have suddenly seem inconsequential. It’s hard to hear and learn when you’re talking, so listening to the important messaging and social education that is being offered was the only thing to do. We have been listening to Black voices, hearing their experiences, learning about the privilege we have, and how we can use it to raise the bar of equity.

As a company, our moral compass is guided by principles of compassion, humility, equality and inclusiveness. Over the last year we have been making strong efforts to increase female representation and participation in the bikepacking community with the bikepackHER project. We started this project because women were underrepresented in bikepacking, but it’s clear we must broaden our vision to include all demographics. It’s long been documented that people of color are an underrepresented group in cycling. Statistics from our website, Bikepacking Roots, Bikepacking.com and other national studies[1,2] show that the bikepacking community is abundantly white. Tackling Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) representation in bikepacking and the outdoors as a whole is daunting, and as a company we are guilty of being complacent with the status quo. We have to view this as an opportunity. An opportunity for introspection and to engage with each other on issues of race, diversity and inclusion. It deeply and profoundly bothers us that there is not more diversity in cycling and bikepacking and we hold ourselves accountable for our role in this. 

Revelate is committed to creating a path to an inclusive and equitable community. We acknowledge that this requires challenging how implicit bias, racism and privilege influences the outdoors & cycling community. There is a long road ahead, lasting change will require continuous work on the individual and industry level. As a company we are committed to being a partner in this movement. 

Here is what we have done and are doing as we start down this path: 

Take Action:

• January 21st, 2020 – we signed the Cycling Industry Pledge (CIP).
• Pledge to increase our annual financial contributions to organizations like WTF Bikexplorers and Bikepacking Roots to support their diversity and inclusion initiatives. 
• June 19th, 2020 – we made a $7500 Donation to NAACP Legal Defense Fund expunging profits made from our now ceased relationship supplying police frame bags.
  

Create Space:

• Effective immediately, we are implementing an open door policy for our Ambassador program to create space for BIPOC cyclists/athletes to apply. We are committing to adding at least two sponsored BIPOC riders by the end of 2020. Long term we will restructure our ambassador program to encourage and support more diversity. 
• Use our platform to amplify the voices and presence of BIPOC cyclists. 
• Create a long term plan that grows our support for organizations providing BIPOC youth cycling and bikepacking opportunities.  

Learn & Understand:

• Actively learn about barriers of entry to bikepacking for BIPOC cyclists and explore ways we can help remove them. 
• Seek racial equity & inclusiveness education for our employees and leadership.
• Recognize our inherent privilege and continually challenge exclusionary beliefs and prejudices.

Speak Out:

• Continue to use our platform to share resources, information, and events to encourage community participation and action in this process.
• Collaborate and partner with outdoor and cycling industry groups and brands who are also committed to breaking down racial barriers to the outdoors.
• Revelate will actively ensure that our social media community interacts with each other respectfully. We will remove comments which promote hate or are racially oppressive.

Revelate is a small business, you can count employees on one hand (and dogs on the other!), but we believe that you’re never too small to do something impactful. We acknowledge that we are likely to make mistakes while we learn along the way, but we will be open minded and committed to encouraging diversity and inclusivity within the bikepacking community.