On Tuesday, May 17, Chair of the Faculty Mimi Chapman shared the following statement with the UNC-CH faculty.
You may view the email at this link.
May 17, 2022
Dear Colleagues:
We enter this week once again bearing the weight of sadness, anger, disbelief, and horror at the shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo and a church in Orange County, California. So many of us on this campus are affected, and for colleagues of color these incidents are deeply personal. If Black people, Black elders in particular, can be shot while grocery shopping, where is anyone of color safe?
In so many of the mass shootings this country has endured, there is a terrible brew of white supremacy, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ sentiment, antisemitism, and racism. The flavors combine differently at different times, but they have the same base broth: hate, fear, dehumanization, and access to weapons. Many of you do work to describe, dissect, delineate, and combat such attitudes, policies, and actions. But at times like this, none of us feel like what we do or say is enough. No doubt this statement falls into that category.
Yet, it is worth something to take time to acknowledge what is happening, to experience our own despair, and to be motivated by our anger to recommit to the work of justice, anti-racism, belonging, and peace.
With respect and admiration for all that you are and all that you do,
Mimi
