Community Statement – August 28, 2020

In preparing our community statement in calling out the acts of police brutality and violence against Jacob Blake and the heinous killings of protesters in response to Jacob's shooting, I was at a loss for words.

How many more statements must institutions continue to release to mourn the Black lives lost and the Black lives harmed?  Shouldn't our goal be eliminating the need for these statements instead of finding new ways to say and to affirm that Black Lives Matter? We, alongside our allies and partners, have already said what needs to be said:

"When unarmed and nonviolent Black [and Brown] people are confronted, more often than not, their lives are in grave danger at the hands of police and the criminal justice system because their guilt and criminality were decided the moment the color of their skin became visible."

I wrote these words merely a year ago, in response to the acts of domestic and racial terrorism that took place in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. And even before that, we wrote about police brutality and systemic racism back in March 2018, in response to the killing of Stephon Clark, and how media coverage "[...] perpetuates the inane assumption that Black and Brown lives matter less, and that white perpetrators are more human, less guilty, and their crimes less egregious." All of these words still have the utmost relevance today.

But the unstoppable civil rights movement continues. We won't stop repeating ourselves and taking action until every Black life matters.

#InDefenseOfBlackLives

AiLun Ku

OppNet President & CEO