06/03/2020
Below is a statement and Living Solidarity Document from our Winthrop HoCo, including a growing list of resources and action items. Thanks to all those who have shared your ideas in this Document and inspired us with your activism and commitment. Winthrop HoCo welcomes your feedback, comments and continued ideas.
We are proud of this House for speaking out and taking a stand. Here is a link to the Living Solidarity Document: https://tinyurl.com/June2Statement
Statement from Winthrop HoCo:
We, the undersigned members of the Winthrop House Committee, would like to extend our deepest condolences to both the Black community at Harvard and across the country. The treatment of Black people that has been normalized in the United States is absolutely unacceptable. From the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Dion Johnson, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, to the countless other acts of violence that are not captured in the national spotlight, we have been reminded yet again of the systemic oppression and the dangers that institutions and individual prejudices inflict on Black people and their loved ones every day.
Black Lives Matter, and this is not up for debate.
However, police violence and brutality is just the tip of the iceberg. Black communities have been disproportionately harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, bearing the brunt of the increasing number of lives lost in our country due to systemic biases and inequalities in our healthcare system. Academic institutions like Harvard would not be here today if not built by the hands of slaves owned by the University’s original founders, including John Winthrop. We, as beneficiaries of Harvard’s wealth, have to reckon with these egregious crimes against humanity. For too long, too many of us have stayed silent and complicit while Black lives are lost. It’s time for things to change.
We’re committing to change today. In solidarity with Black communities across the country, Winthrop House Committee will be matching up to $1,000 in donations sent to our Venmo: . We will split all unspecified donated funds equally between the following Black solidarity organizations:
Reclaim the Block for MN
Black Visions Collective
Brooklyn Community Bail Fund
Campaign Zero
Louisville Community Bail Fund
Massachusetts Bail Fund
If you wish to explicitly direct your donation to another Black solidarity organization, which includes local bail funds across the United States, please specify the name of the organization in your Venmo message, and we will match that request as well. Donations are not limited to Harvard affiliates. We strongly encourage members of the House to continue donating after we meet our matching cap if you have the financial means.
And this is just the beginning. We’ll be continuing to support these aforementioned Black solidarity organizations and other causes in the future with a consistent $100 donation every month. We as a Committee have been thinking about the ways in which we can continue to stand by Black students throughout this crisis, and this means working to give space to Harvard cultural organizations in Winthrop and supporting Tutor programming and initiatives, to start. We would appreciate feedback on how to best support these causes and others in the future, so please contact us ([email protected]) if you have ideas. We also encourage Winthrop House residents to collectively match and exceed our monthly donations to these causes as well. Supporting Black lives is not a one-time occurrence; we must continue to call out injustice, and we must commit ourselves to defending Black lives every day.
Finally, it’s crucial that we as students take time to educate ourselves and those around us in our active commitment to anti-racism. Through self-reflection and tough conversations with families and friends, we can begin taking steps toward understanding our own privileges and living out that commitment. There’s no way to be a perfect ally, but we need to be dedicated to immediate self-growth now. With this, we implore the Winthrop House community to take time to reflect on their own lives and how we all contribute to upholding and benefitting from institutions rooted in racism every day.
Following this statement is a non-exhaustive list of reading resources, educational materials, action items, and further resources on Black solidarity organizations accepting donations. We hope that this remains a living document for Winthrop House and its friends, so please feel free to leave a comment with resources that we can include, and a HoCo member will add your contribution to the document as well. Remember that this does not absolve us of our past silence, but the future is ours, and we must commit to change–each and every one of us, every single day.
Say their names. Listen to Black voices. Amplify them. Speak out. Donate. Reflect. Exercise your rights.
Signed,
Chris Altizer ‘21
Becca Amesbury ‘21
Fariba Mahmud ‘22
Sandy Koenig ‘21
Karina Ascunce González ‘22
Charlotte Ruhl ‘22
Jessica Dias-Jayasinghe ‘22
Kyle Mueller ‘22
Teddy Vatcher ‘21
Shivi Aggarwal ‘21
Iman Lavery ‘22
Nia Fernandes ‘22
Rebecca Xi '22
Winthrop HoCo Living Solidarity Document + RESOURCES DOWN BELOW https://tinyurl.com/June2Statement [NOTE: If you have resources you would like shared, please use the “Comment” feature to tag them, and a HoCo member will add them to the document] Statement from Winthrop HoCo: We, the undersigned....
