The Black Lives Matter movement and its calls for change served as the catalyst for student organizing that culminated in the Museum’s Action Plan. Here we take the opportunity to affirm our support for Black lives.
The University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology condemns police brutality, state-sanctioned violence, mass incarceration, and anti-Black racism enacted in the United States and globally. As a collective and as individuals we unequivocally affirm that Black lives matter. As we bore witness to the deaths of Aura Rosser, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, and the many demonstrations that followed, we recognized our responsibility to act against the forms of oppression that create unequal access to the power to thrive in our society and discipline. We acknowledge the fight for Black lives is not new and that we, as an institution, have been largely absent from this long history of activism at the University of Michigan and beyond. We take seriously the charge “Why now?” and are committed to imagining and creating a more just and equitable future within our discipline and the communities in which we live and work, alongside our colleagues, community members, and local and national leaders.
