A timeline

October 12–19*: The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) and SHIFT is held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

*The trauma that many people of color from the 2018 ELP cohort experienced at the hands of Christian Beckwith and SHIFT began long before October 2018.

November 5: A coalition of 17 people — ELP alumni, former SHIFT staff and SHIFT attendees — sign a letter calling for Christian Beckwith’s resignation. Several other letters accompanied this main letter. We’ve chosen to include letters from Grace Anderson, Anahi Naranjo, Jasmine Stammes and Nadia Mercado, with their consent.

November 6: The SHIFT Board acknowledges our letter with a quick email letting us know they’re in the process of reviewing all feedback from the 2018 SHIFT Festival and ELP.

December 21: The SHIFT Board sends this official response.

April 8: After months of deliberation and preparing, our coalition starts to reach out to folks in our community about supporting us and holding SHIFT accountable. We invite them to participate in our social media campaign, #WontTakeSHIFTanymore

April 12: SHIFT learns of our campaign and decides to write this letter from the Board and this apology from Christian.

April 13: Two coalition members, Jasmine Stammes and Sarah Shimazaki, respond publicly with their thoughts.

April 14: Three board members, Justin Forrest Parks, Aisha Weinhold and Leandra Taylor, resign and call for Christian to step down.