Program Statement on #BlackLivesMatter

Program Statement on #BlackLivesMatter

In recent months chants of “Say Their Names” have filled the streets of every state in the U.S., demanding this country acknowledge the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Tony McDade, and so many other black people at the hands of police violence. As faculty of American Studies, we recognize these deaths are a part of the broader structures of white supremacy that informs colonialism, slavery, incarceration, and U.S. militarism.

The American Studies program stands in solidarity with those seeking to end state violence. Our teaching and research regularly unpacks white supremacy in history, law, art, and culture. Our senior seminars (AMST 498), for example, have already, and will continue to provide our students with the opportunity to explore the deep historical roots of over-policing and state-sanctioned violence. These courses situate Black Lives Matter within the long history of black communities’ efforts to liberate themselves and others, and analyze the future of racial and social justice from interdisciplinary lenses.

We remain committed to countering anti-black racism and centering intersectional analysis of race, class, gender, and sexuality as a way to challenge all systems of oppression. We support our students in the fight for racial and social justice, the graduation requirement of Ethnic Studies at the CSUs, ACA 5 to revoke Prop 209, and the local and national calls to defund the police and invest in community needs.

-The AMST Faculty