Statement Against Anti-Black Racism
The Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto stands firmly in condemnation of anti-Black racism and all forms of racial discrimination in Canada, in the U.S., and across the globe. We condemn police brutality and we share the collective grief and anger in response to the recent killings of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many more. We will not be silent about the systematic racism and oppression terrorizing the Black community. It is our collective responsibility to renounce racism and structural injustice. Racism is real and deadly, and struggling against it is critical to any and all organizing for social justice. We lend our voices in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and other struggles to end the dehumanization of people of color. We also acknowledge that statements of solidarity, while important, are not enough. We thus recommit ourselves to the long struggle for social justice, from local to global communities, through our research, teaching, and community practices. We will continue to work to promote critical dialogues within and beyond the university about how racism, anti-indigeneity, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and other forms of structural oppression and structural inequalities affect us all—our relationships, our organizations, and our communities. We acknowledge that silence and inaction contribute to the maintenance of ongoing institutional racism and other structural inequalities. Let’s, once again, commit ourselves to caring for one another as we confront anti-Black racism.
In solidarity,
The Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies
University of Toronto
A few useful links:
- ← The Queer Peel Oral History Project
- Professor Daniel Wright on Greenwell’s “Cleanness”: From Debt to Care →
