The Department of Sociology of Wilkinson College stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and Black communities across the country. We deplore the horrific murders of unarmed Black people by the police and the systemic racism in police forces, in educational and legal institutions, and throughout society. We support the protestors calling on us to say the names of victims of a compromised system of criminal justice: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Read, Tony McDade, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, and many more. We mourn the unnamed and unnumbered victim. These tragedies are laid on top of the longstanding systemic poverty and other social injustices experienced in marginalized communities for an unbearably long time.
We are all called upon to seek solutions--of every kind, whoever we are, and however we can contribute best--to redress these wounds and injustices endemic to the country and world. Martin Luther King said, "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance or conscientious stupidity.” As educators, and directors of our particular Interdisciplinary Minors in Wilkinson College, we call upon Chapman University to instead conscientiously support and expand Africana Studies and all other programs throughout the university committed to teaching the knowledge, texts, histories, and social movements born of struggle against racist violence, anti-Blackness, and other social injustice. We have learned the hard way that “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” We must teach and learn this history and the dynamics of this present moment with an investment in education for a future of less shame, less suffering, less fear, less hate, and more justice, more hope, more peace.
We encourage everyone, including those of us who belong to marginalized communities, to hold honest conversations about anti-Blackness and discrimination with our own families, friends, and communities. Covid-19 continues to expose what we have already known to be the racial and social inequalities that our communities live through daily. We witnessed the rise of anti-Asian rhetoric and violence, disregard for “essential” immigrant workers, and staggering infection rates among Native Americans. We need to reimagine what it means to stand in solidarity with each other.
The Faculty of the Department of Sociology
This is an adaptation and endorsement of the Black Lives Matter statement composed by the Directors of Wilkinson College’s Interdisciplinary Minors:
- Africana Studies Program, Quaylan Allen and Stephanie Takaragawa, Directors
- Disability Studies Program, Art Blaser, Director
- Latinx and Latin American Studies Program, Ruben Espinoza, Director
- LGBTQ Studies Program, Ian Barnard, Director
- Women’s and Gender Studies Program, CK Magliola, Director