Black Lives Matter at GLS

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June 4, 2020

Like everyone else, we at GLS have been closely following recent events, beginning with the incredibly disturbing murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and continuing through the spreading nationwide protests calling us to pay attention to police brutality and structural racism in American life. And like you, we feel the weight of all of this as it comes amidst the already disorienting coronavirus pandemic.

All of us here at GLS support efforts – through peaceful demonstrations, scholarship, other forms of written or artistic expression, as well as through political processes – to bring ever-greater equality, justice, fairness, inclusion, respect, and empathy for all to our nation, state, local communities, and Duke University itself. We are especially sensitive to the work we need to do to make sure that Black Americans share fully in the promise of our society. Black lives absolutely matter, and that must be affirmed regularly in word and deed, by individuals and institutions.

At GLS, we recognize that silence and proclamations of "neutrality" can support systems of continued oppression. Instead, we want to be intentional about mobilizing the resources available to us to push for equality, inclusion, and justice, and to resist forces that would turn us backward. We welcome suggestions for concrete steps we might take in this direction.