Today we mourn and express our anger over the unjust state violence that pervades our society. As scholars, teachers, and activists, we know well the long and painful histories of racism and white supremacy that have brought us to this moment. We stand shoulder to shoulder with all those who fight to defend and uphold Black life in ways both large and small.
Black lives matter.
We recognize that the Latinx community within the U.S. shares many of the same struggles and also has, at times, been complicit in these injustices. Anti-Black racism is a reality in many Latinx communities. Its origins can be traced to 500 years of genocide, colonization, and slavery in the Americas. This brutal past haunts the Latinx experience and diminishes us all. We recognize, too, that Latinx communities are a product of this history, and we celebrate a mestizaje—of culture, of race, of language—built from Indigenous, European, and African realities. Ignoring the African in any vision of mestizaje is a form of Anti-Blackness that we will not tolerate.
We call on everyone to support Black lives within and beyond our communities through active repudiations of all forms of racism and white supremacy.
So, too, we express solidarity with African Americans in a common cause to dismantle state sanctioned violence against Black and Brown communities across the Americas—a unity of purpose that recognizes our intertwined histories but does not diminish the uniqueness of our experiences.
For more on how Latinx communities can support BLM, you can watch the Univision segment featuring Dr. G. Cristina Mora (Berkeley), Dr. Claudia Sandoval (Loyola Marymount (LMU) and Dr. Sylvia Zamora (LMU). Please feel free to share it with your Abuelos, Tios, Tias, and anyone else:
The univision segment is based on their OpEd:
https://laopinion.com/2020/06/05/black-lives-matter-merece-todo-nuestro-apoyo/
Dismantling Anti-Blackness Together by Dr. Lorgia Garcia Peña:
https://nacla.org/news/2020/06/09/dismantling-anti-blackness-together
