Statements of Solidarity

The Department of Anthropology is one of many UNC Charlotte departments committed to addressing issues of social justice. Below are statements and links to statements from other UNC Charlotte departments:

The Department of Africana Studies issued the following statement:

Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Jordan-Davis, Yahira Nesby, Tamir Rice, Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones, Korryn Gaines, Kenneth Chamberlain Sr, Keith Lamont Scott, … and those whose names we may not know.
Asè.

As faculty of the Africana Studies Department, we say their names in honor of their humanity and to call attention to the intersection of Blackness, state sanctioned violence, anti-Blackness and structural violence. The above-named individuals among countless others – including those we lost during the Atlantic Slave Trade, Jim Crow terrorism, and the expansion of the carceral state – have all been taken from our communities as a result of colluding ideologies of violence and white supremacy. The collusion results in Diasporic African descended individuals living with perpetual structural violence.

This must end!

The Africana Studies Department is committed to the liberation of African descended people. As scholars and community members we commit ourselves to resisting militarized policing, the neoliberalization of public goods and services, lack of accountability from elected officials, and patterns of racial inequality in all forms. We stand in solidarity with Black protestors and allies who demand substantive change, the type of change that recognizes the humanity of African descended people, and the abolition of systems of oppression.

We bring together our collective efforts to facilitate a dialogue on how as a community we engage in substantive actions to end racism and structural violence-violence that stretches beyond the institution of policing and what Angela Davis refers to as the Prison Industrial Complex, but that is also in our schools, our health care systems and even our institutions of higher education.

To that end, we will host monthly on-line forums starting June 17 at 2 p.m. EST. To join our discussion, send your name and email to: africana _ Studies@uncc.edu.

Join us as we do the work to achieve a more just and equitable society.

The Department of Communications Studies has issued a statement that can be found here.

The Department of Religious Studies has issued a statement of solidarity that can be found here.