06/12/2020
Our prayers are with the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, and Desmond Franklin. We are disheartened with the senseless murder that occurred in Minneapolis early last week and we stand behind the men and women of the black community. The Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity condemns police brutality and racial discrimination in all forms.
As a fraternity and a community that strongly values and appreciates all racial backgrounds, we are disgusted by the continued discrimination and hateful rhetoric that surrounds the Black community to this day. Police brutality is an issue that has plagued Blacks from the Civil Rights Movements in the 50’s and 60’s, to the beating of Rodney King in LA in 1991, and the senseless murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missourri. Less than 10 miles from the campus of CWRU, Tamir Rice was gunned down by a Police officer. He was only 12 years old. After each of these incidents, government officials promised to assess and end this pattern of police brutality. When Eric Garner was murdered by the police in 2014, he repeatedly told the officers: “I can’t breathe.” On May 25th, George Floyd repeated the same phrase. Clearly, there has been no substantial police reform. Many of us forgot the name’s Brown, Rice, and Garner, but we must do better and never forget the name Floyd. This is not a problem for the Black Community, this is a problem that we all must face with our black brothers and sisters. We have to protect and amplify the voices of the black community and join the fight against systemic racism.
To help show our support for these communities, we encourage all our members and friends to donate and support the movement through organizations that are helping to build up predominantly minority communities and reform our police.
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
NAACP
ACLU
