Dear colleagues, students, and all in our community,
I write following the very deeply troubling violent events this weekend in Buffalo where distorted white supremacist notions and actions led to the death of 10 Black people. There are hardly words to describe this dreadful attack aimed at the Black community there. The worst that society can produce was in evidence.
We recognize that the events in Buffalo have made some members of our community feel extremely unsafe or vulnerable. I know that many among us also feel a close connection to Buffalo and to communities there in many senses. We all share this bewilderment and sense of outrage at this senseless violence. We also share a collective determination that such hatred and all the forces that help to create it will not prevail. We stand together.
In the Faculty of Education at York and in our wider community, we are mindful that while we have made significant steps since the death of George Floyd nearly 2 years ago focused attention internationally on the ongoing issues of racism and oppression, there is much to do everywhere to ensure black flourishing in our community. This gunman’s actions are at the extreme end of a continuum of behavior within oppressive structures that our Faculty is committed to counteract and dismantle. We will continue to counter this and other forms of oppression as an intellectual and moral community.
Robert Savage
Robert Savage, PhD
he / him
Dean & Professor
Faculty of Education