|
|
Dear Colleagues,
I know many of you are as horrified, hurt, and angry as I am as police
officers continue to abuse their authority and murder Blacks for simply living
their lives.
The COVID-19
pandemic coupled with brutal attacks and state violence resulting in the
murders of Black people have brought white supremacy, anti-Black racism, and
systemic racism back into the public gaze. But this time it is different and it
must be different. Across the country and throughout California, the call is
loud to end – once and for all – white supremacy culture, systemic racism,
anti-Black racism, and killing of Black people.
As a follow-up to CFA’s statement on the murder of George Floyd, the union is laying out a set
of demands and justifications for those that center on redress for systemic
anti-Black racism in the CSU. Read the
calls to action here. We are purposefully centering demands around Black
issues. However, we want to make clear that as we deepen and extend our
Anti-Racism Social Justice work, we will attend to the specific needs of the
particular communities we serve rather than subsuming these under a general
category like “people of color.” We will continue to work in this vein,
drawing upon the wisdom and voices of CFA’s Caucuses that are associated with
the Council for Racial and Social Justice to address their particular
conditions and needs.
CFA is calling
on all of us to seize this moment to begin the work for the systemic change
that is needed:
- Value
Black lives.
- Uphold
rights to protest anti-Black racism.
- Protect
Black LGBTQIA+.
- Defund
and remove armed, militarized policing from our campuses.
- Support
the Ethnic Studies requirement Assembly Bill 1460.
- Resource/establish
Black Studies Departments and Black Student/Resource Centers on each campus.
- Provide
free tuition for Black, Native, and Indigenous students.
- Prioritize
resources for mental health counseling, including Black counselors.
- Establish
and resource programs for criminal justice system-impacted students.
- Implement
racial pay equity.
- Recognize
and reward the scholarship/creative works of Black faculty.
- Relieve
cultural taxation of Black faculty.
- Transform
the leadership of the CSUs so that it is truly representative of the
communities served by the CSU.
This document,
composed by a dozen member leaders with substantial engagement by Black
officers and leaders, is intended to further and deepen CFA’s Anti-Racism and
Social Justice Transformation in this historic moment when a spotlight has been
cast upon systemic anti-Black racism, the brutality of state violence against
Black people, and the deadly persistence of white supremacist hatred of Black
people. CFA is firmly committed to our program of
anti-racism and social justice; there is no going back.
It’s time to rewrite
and then honor The Social Contract. We look forward to your support and your
actions in doing so.
In union,
Charles Toombs, Ph.D.
President, California Faculty Association
Professor
Department of Africana Studies
San Diego State University
|
|