Statement of the LSU Sociology Department regarding the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

Dear LSU Sociology Community and Friends:

We enter June 2020, still coping with an unprecedented global health pandemic, and now enduring a week of brutality and senselessness highlighting our continued national failure to deal effectively with racial injustices that plague our nation. We, the LSU sociology faculty, fully support LSU’s “We Stand Together” statement signed by the highest level university officials. We stand with all members of the LSU community in facing our challenges “with civility, compassion, and a desire to seek understanding.”

We share the anguish and pain after the senseless murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and too many others. We condemn the historical and continued racist legacy of violence and oppression against African Americans and communities of color in the United States, and we stand in solidarity with all who struggle for racial justice and for a better, collective future.

The recent murders have shown again and again the terrible legacy of racism. We are justifiably angry about these ongoing injustices, and we have renewed our resolve to change conditions and work for a more just society. We are proud of the work our sociology community does in contributing to a better, more just future, even as our faculty begins to investigate interventions in the current area of national focus.

We call for continued efforts to encourage more diversity and inclusiveness of all individuals and perspectives within the LSU sociology community. We stand with all who, through their scholarship and research, deepen our understanding of social inequalities, institutionalized racism, police brutality, and inequalities endemic in our criminal justice system.

We maintain that the physical health, mental health, and safety of all members of the LSU community should continue to be the top priority. We encourage all to find comfort in their loved ones. We encourage all to seek help when needed by reaching out to available resources on campus or within our communities. We encourage faculty mentors to support their students and students to reach out to mentors.

We place our hope for a better future in our students and colleagues working together in an interactive learning community, accepting individual differences, and forging a more just, better, and lasting future. Though not without room for improvement, the LSU sociology community has become increasingly diverse and relevant along multiple dimensions within LSU, across Louisiana, and beyond. We look forward to continuing to promote this diversity and the future with renewed enthusiasm as each generation of scholars and students makes its contribution, along with the multiple perspectives and interests that enrich our discipline, our department, and our university.

Sincerely,

Faculty of Sociology Department Louisiana State University