05/23/2022
May 20, 2022
The African American Studies Program at the University of Texas at El Paso Statement of Condemnation of the Violence Exacted Upon Black Communities.
The African American Studies Program, in the most stringent of terms, condemns the brutal and
wanton murder of Black men, women and children happening daily across this nation. We are
incensed at the continued objectification and condemnation of Black people and this country’s
open and malignant disregard for the needs and realities of the Black community. As an
academic Program, we continue to condemn systemic and institutional racism as well as the
overt and covert practitioners of white supremacist ideations and the destructive realities they
visit upon Black people; victims who are subjected daily to racialized violence, micro and macro
aggressions, character assassinations, inhumane treatment and daily governmental failures to
recognize, much less protect, Black people’s rights as human beings and residents of this
country. It is past time to bring such atrocities, in all their forms and practices, to a complete and
abrupt halt.
On May 14, 2022, 10 people were brutally and publicly murdered without provocation while
shopping at Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Their murderer showed no remorse for his
actions or concern for those he targeted, those he shot, those he murdered, nor did he care for all
those who would be devastated by his calculated and directed violence against this Black
community. He cared not for the families, not for their children and not for the devastation his
murderous rampage was designed to bring about. The violent attacks upon Black people, the
denial of basic human rights, the disregard for the social, economic and political welfare of
Black communities, must be brought to an immediate end. We are responsible for challenging
the violence and racism this monster in Buffalo wrought, for resisting the violence and racism
monsters like him all over this nation bring to our communities daily. We are responsible for
naming inequality, for standing against tyranny whenever and wherever we find it and for
challenging all those who direct or subscribe to such ideologies.
Ten innocent people were murdered at the hands of a white supremacist who killed with
enthusiasm and intent; yet he is not alone nor were his actions an aberration. We must now stand
on behalf of the people he murdered and to say aloud and often that they matter to us; their lives
matter to us and we will advocate for truth, justice and humanity in their stead and in their name.
We must pay homage to the lives taken here but also to the inspiration to demand truth and
justice that their deaths produced. We MUST pledge our own humanity to the selfless act of
righteousness; of truth; of courage and of responsibility on their behalf. Their murderer, and the
ideologies that spawned him, cannot have the final word on our humanity.
It is time for self-introspection. The calculated murder of these 10 beautiful people, the shooting
of three others and the trauma of this event for the families, demand that we pay heed to and
engage the principles of collective work and responsibility; the important need to be vigilant in
the fight for equality, that we never forget the value of a human life and the need to protect it.
Now is the time to take these stances because there can be no other stance to take. To call one’s
name is to honor that person. To speak it aloud is to summon all of the power that person had,
the memories he or she created and the love and respect of those who knew them. To call a name
is a powerful symbol of reverence and respect and so the African American Studies Program
calls out:
Ruth Whitfield; Aaron Salter, Jr.; Heyward Patterson; Pearl Young; Geraldine Talley;
Celestine Chaney; Katherine Massey; Margus Morrison; Andre Mackneil; and Roberta
Drury
Yet, we must also recognize the fact that there are a lot of names that we must account for; who
we are responsible for. It is imperative that we address the self-destructive behaviors happening
within our communities as a result of centuries of oppression, miseducation and injustice, if we
are to fully protect our communities from all who would do them harm. It is now time for those
who love freedom and equality to decide our individual and collective responses to not only this
horrid event, but all the horrid events practiced against Black communities throughout this
country past, present and future. In what ways shall we, in the words of poet Margaret Walker,
let “a second generation full of courage issue forth; let a people loving freedom come to growth.
Let a beauty full of healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing in our spirits and our
blood.” How shall we transform our personhood into effective and consistent challenges to
projected violence and injustice directed at our communities? This is indeed the question and it
demands a cogent answer and response.
The African American Studies program proudly aligns with all those standing for justice and
demanding an end to the murder, objectification and violence practiced against Black people
wherever they reside and all attempts to deny or devalue our humanity. We are rightfully angry
and call for a transformation of this nation’s racialized policies and an end to white supremacy.
We must become both the ideological and physical dam which holds back the tide of injustice
and take away its power to sweep over humanity unabated. Now is the time, for in the words of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the “time is always right to do what is right.” The time for action has
never been more clear or more urgent. The African American Studies Program is committed to
the work of ending the injustices and tyranny that surround us daily. We will continue speaking
truth to power so that those victimized by white supremacy, by institutional and systemic racism,
by racialized violence, shall never be forgotten, but rather, in us, shall have outspoken and
committed advocates in defense of their humanity.
The African American Studies Program, University of Texas at El Paso
