Black Lives Matter
The Stanford Department of Linguistics stands in support of Black lives. They are the lives of our students, our faculty, our peers, and our neighbors -- and they are under attack in this country.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen that Black, indigenous, and people of color are disproportionately affected by the virus because of their unequal access to health care, their commitment to working essential jobs, and their grossly disproportionate and deeply prejudicial incarceration. We have witnessed one act of violence after another against the Black community: the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery, the weaponization of race by Amy Cooper and Tom Austin, and the blatant police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade. We say the names of those lost while recognizing that tens of millions of Americans live under the continual threat of racial terror, including state-sponsored terror at the hands of the police and military.
Racial terror will continue as long as the White majority stands by. Angela Davis reminds us that “it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” We urge you to commit to anti-racism through self-education, through critical engagement with friends and family, and by donating time and money to the collective struggle for reform. As a department, we resolve to address the ways in which our own institutional and intellectual practices enable injustice.
Racial terror will continue as long as the White majority stands by. Angela Davis reminds us that “it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” We urge you to commit to anti-racism through self-education, through critical engagement with friends and family, and by donating time and money to the collective struggle for reform. As a department, we resolve to address the ways in which our own institutional and intellectual practices enable injustice.