As protesters continue to take a stand against police violence and racial injustice, many brands and businesses have issued statements in support of the Black community and Black Lives Matter movement. Some of their messages have garnered wide praise while others have received criticism for relying on seemingly empty platitudes.
One particularly powerful example of an effective comment came from a surprising source: a baby names website.
BabyNames.com added its compelling message to the top of its homepage, showing solidarity with the Black community. It lists the names of more than 100 Black Americans killed by police officers or civilians in the U.S.
“Each of these names was somebody’s baby,” it reads. The lower right-hand corner features the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.
BabyNames.com founder Jennifer Moss told HuffPost she felt obliged as a mother and ally to make the statement.
“I saw the names listed on NPR, and they broke my heart. I knew then I wanted to include them in our company’s statement,” she said. “I am a parent, and it just came from my heart.”
The BabyNames.com message, which site visitors can collapse if they wish, has been shared far and wide on social media like Twitter, where one tweet has received more than 300,000 likes.
Moss describes the reactions to the statement as “99.9% love,” and said she and her company’s employees are “so grateful and humbled” by the response.
“My goal was to make people understand that they aren’t just names,” she said. “They are human beings and were loved.”
