We are grieving, demonstrating, reflecting, and reckoning. Individually we are in active support of the demonstrations and actions happening across the country calling for justice. Collectively we are holding dialogues to hear our many voices and share ways to take action. This statement of solidarity is in process because this is just the beginning.

SOMeCA stands in deep mourning for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and for all who have faced state-sanctioned racist violence. Witnessing these murders changes each of us and calls us to take action.

Students, staff, and alumni of SOMeCA have experienced and fought against racism in all of its forms for decades. Today we renew and redouble our commitment to fight for justice and a better world and to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement which is on the forefront of this fight, standing for a “world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive.”