AGSA Statement of Racially-Biased Vioence
8 June 2020
In light of the recent murders of Black citizens—Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and countless others—we cannot stay silent. We are outraged by these acts of violence that have been carried out on those who have been historically and repeatedly subjected to systematic oppression, discrimination, othering, and violence. As we write this statement from the Colorado state, made up of 48 contemporary tribal nations, we are constantly reminded by the histories and memories of colonization, oppression, and violence that remain in place on the land we call home. In the outpouring of anger and grief about these violent acts across histories and unfortunately in the present days, our community of graduate students stands in solidarity with anti-racist protesters and movements. We condemn the police violence that has been instigated against those protesting racial injustice.
We therefore reiterate the AAA Statements on Race and “A Rush to Judgment Rather than Justice” and respond to its call for anthropologists to, “apply resources to combat race-based injustices.” We also reflect upon the challenge from the Association of Black Anthropologists towards non-Black anthropologists “to see and correct their refusal or inability to teach race, racism, the pathology of whiteness, and the banality of white supremacy; their marginalization of Black scholars and their scholarship.” With this commitment to continuously decolonize our works, we present the following selections of teaching, reading, and healing resources, open and accessible to the public. In addition, to better facilitate and nurture a much-needed learning environment, we will be holding a virtual guided dialogue on “Racism and Privilege: Politics of Allyship” on 19 June 2020 (historic day of Juneteenth) from 4 to 6 pm (MDT) via Zoom. We invite anyone who wants to engage in an open and honest conversation about racism, privilege, and allyship to join the dialogue.
With this symbolic statement, we strongly emphasize that Black lives matter.
Signed by,
Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA)
Department of Anthropology at CU Boulder
Territories of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples
Contact Person:
Chu May Paing
Social Media Committee Lead 2019-2020/ AGSA