Statement of Solidarity and Action

We, the faculty and staff of Morehouse College, stand committed to the College’s mission to inculcate the incontrovertible value of Black people and the pursuit of justice. We stand in solidarity with the national and international response of grief and anger concerning the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others. We profess the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. '48, a Morehouse alumnus, who stressed that it is our moral obligation to apply intentional pressure in protesting unjust laws and norms.

We are well-acquainted with literal and figurative enslavement and such crimes against Black humanity as: rape, lynching, redlining, mass incarceration, and voter suppression.  This lived experience, an ongoing legacy of centuries of racial injustice and white supremacy, is central to the widespread uprisings that we bear witness to in this historical moment.  We aver that this pandemic of institutional failure must not continue to erode the tacit value of Black bodies, minds, and spirits. Accordingly, we call for a revolution of values that will ultimately root-out the hypocrisy of a nation that calls itself free and democratic, while simultaneously exploiting the intellectual, material, and cultural investments of Black people.

We, as faculty and staff, are committed to the work required to attain the ideals of life and freedom for all people as written in the United States' Declaration of Independence. This work, by definition, is not the exclusive responsibility of Black people and their allies. Across lines of difference, we all bear responsibility for this work.  We have been heartened in recent days to see glimpses of solidarity by people of all colors, some corporations, and some governmental authorities. We are also pleased to see that some measures of accountability have been imposed — in the Floyd case, the Arbery case, in the incident involving the tasing of our Atlanta University Center students, and for Christian Cooper in New York City.

However, we are not interested in continuing to seek justice or retribution for systemic offenses. We demand a system of justice, official and societal, that provides the protections promised by our Constitution and national “contract,” such that George Floyd and others who look like him, are free to live – to breathe – without restraint. The investigation and contemplation of America’s peculiar predilection with race and racism is long past its novelty. It is time to reconstruct the American polity so that it demonstrates universal respect for the humanity of Black people in this country. We —all of us— must dedicate ourselves to civic participation, and to repairing and protecting our electoral system from defilement by those who wish to continue discriminatory representation: a reconstruction of American democracy. We are dedicated to actively participating in, and providing support for, this uncomfortable, complex, and righteous work. We do this in alignment with our mission to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service, and in homage to our ancestors.

We invite you to join us in action. Engage resources on our campus that highlight progressive teaching and scholarship. These resources aim to support strategic development of the social, economic, and political transformation that will ensure social justice; social impact; equity in all measures; and freedom for ourselves, our students, our communities, and this nation. We hope that you will explore this list of resources that are central to the mission of Morehouse College – and that you will continue the challenging and necessary freedom-work ahead of us, all.