Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Madeleine Sutherland (An MIT Community Vigil)”.
Madeleine SUTHERLAND, Dear friends, I am Madeleine Sutherland graduate student council. President. – I am sorry to have to address you under these painful circumstances, when bigotry and injustice that plagued our past continues to ravage through our today.. We are gathered to mourn the recent murders of Black Lives, including George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud, Arbery and many others, and to join the nationwide, call for not one more. In the face of such reckless hate and crimes. So grotesque, it’s hard to find words for them. Words feel profoundly inadequate..
These tragedies have affected so many of us in different ways. To the black community at MIT and to all my colleagues who are hurting, I offer my friendship, support and solidarity.. It is important in times like this, to remind everyone of the forms of support available to you to heal from all of these events.. For example, MIT mental health is holding appointments via Telehealth.
Graduate students can contact Gain and GradSupport. Staff members can contact MyLife Services for support., As you go out into the world and fight against injustice. Please remember to take care of yourselves too. Your well-being matters and you are no help to anyone burned. Out.
Talk to your friends.. Do things that make you joyful., But also [, INAUDIBLE ] are more like band-aids.. We need to address the underlying problem.. There comes a time when we have to call evil by its name.. The anti black racism plaguing this country and claiming so many lives is one such time.
As a person. I’M grieved and angry that some of my colleagues, neighbors and friends are still not only being made to feel unwelcome but having to fear for their lives when out in public., In particular to my non-black colleagues. It is important to listen to and believe our neighbors who have been telling us about racism and police brutality for years.. It shouldn’t take this very public murder for us to pay attention.
Dr. King wrote in his letter from a Birmingham jail. The time is always right to do right. And he warned us that without our actively working to bring about justice, quote “ time itself becomes an ally to the forces of social stagnation.”, And he wrote that 57 years ago.. Yet now we find ourselves needing to loudly affirm Black Lives Matter, because some people and institutions have repeatedly acted otherwise.. We must call for not one more., Because a single life lost to racism is infinitely too many..
So how can we respond to such appalling crimes and their tremendous effect on our friends and neighbors? As a community, we can move from being non-racist to actively explicitly anti-racist.. That starts with self education, on anti-racist practices and listening to the experiences of people of color.. It means learning stereotypes that you may have learned growing up or out in the world..
It means actively confronting racism or bigotry when you see it when systems are not equitable and advocate for change.. In the era of physical distancing, we’ve learned that being part of the MIT community isn’t about living in the Boston area or being on my team’s payroll.. I believe what it really means is that our current struggles against anti-blackness anti-Asian racism, sexism and all other forms of bigotry are interdependent..
Thus, we have to learn what it really means to hold each other up.. If you are not sure where to start reach out to your friends and colleagues who may be struggling right now and ask how are you doing and what can I do to support you right now Have conversations in your lab or department about how to confront racism And actively bring about equity.. My commitment as GSC president, is to struggle alongside you in the days to come, showing up wherever I’m needed and advocating to make MIT more equitable.
And to see our vision for a truly equitable MIT. That is welcoming to all brought to pass.. Thank you.
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