Statement on Black Lives
We at the Oregon Humanities Center oppose and condemn structural racism against Black people and all people of color; we stand in solidarity with the movement for Black Lives and racial justice.
“[I]n order to deal with the untapped and dormant force of the previously subjugated, in order to survive as a human, moving, moral weight in the world, America and all the Western nations will be forced to reexamine themselves and release themselves from many things that are now taken to be sacred, and to discard nearly all the assumptions that have been used to justify their lives and their anguish and their crimes so long.”
—James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (1963)
The arts and humanities sustain and teach us during times of social crisis, upheaval, and conflict. For four hundred years, anti-Black racism has been institutionalized in the United States. Today, as we have witnessed with shock and disgust the senseless state-sanctioned murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, the arts and the humanities must help us recognize, respect, and honor Black people and their lives, and listen to, hear, and learn from their voices and experiences.
UO resources
Combatting Racism at the UO: Listen. Learn. Act.