If there is anything this pandemic has illuminated, it is our inescapable network of mutuality. The CU Department of Linguistics recognizes the truths expressed by Dr. King, and asserts its responsibility to use the tools of our field to expose societal injustice and societal disparities. We express our collective support for Black members of our CU and broader communities, for whom the recent episodes of police and vigilante violence are deeply traumatizing reminders of historic suffering—suffering compounded by the racial disparities that this pandemic has laid bare, as well as the violent suppression of peaceful dissent. Language is not the cause of these ordeals, or of social inequities, but language and language ideology play major roles in discriminatory practices in healthcare, law and education, and language can be weaponized in hateful speech, disinformation and propaganda, as when 'law and order' politicians use terms with nebulous reference like antifa. We have an obligation to pursue and support research programs that target these areas, some of which are described in the Linguistic Society of America’s statement on racial justice, and make the findings part of our teaching. Our academic ideals must be paired with a commitment to listen, to avoid insularity and to live and perform research in a way that is consonant with our values. We commend the work of CU’s Center for Inclusion and Social Change, which has facilitated dialogs among Black students, non-Black students of color and White allies about anti-Blackness and racist depredations. As King himself put it in the 'Letter', "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will". Let’s keep talking.