Hey everyone, Alden Ford here.

For a long time, we've tried to keep this show

separate from what's happening in the real world.

We've heard a lot over the years that our show has helped some of our listeners through some tough times

and we've heard from others that our show is a welcome break from what reality has been

dishing out the rest of the week and those comments really mean the world to us.

But at a certain point,

it's a moral imperative to speak up about what we believe.

We have the privilege of a platform that reaches people throughout the country and the world and

silence in a moment like this is complicity.

Black lives matter.

The violence perpetrated by the state against black communities in our country is pervasive and it's insidious.

And confronting the systemic racism in our society and

in each other and in ourselves can be really difficult.

It can be hard to know where to start.

But we believe that one step we can take is to show our support for black communities and to encourage our audience to do the same.

This week as luck would have it, we have a sponsor.

So we've donated that revenue to three different charities.

The Police Reform Organization campaign zero,

the Minneapolis-based Black Visions Collective and the Black and Pink National Bail Fund for Black LGBTQ people.

Sci-Fi podcast ad revenue may not make the biggest dent in the grand scheme of things, but

it was something in our power to do in this moment.

...