This piece reflects the views of the Black Student Task Force, and not those of Emerald Media Group. The Emerald has lightly edited this piece for grammar, clarity and style. Send letters, op-eds or pieces about campus issues or our reporting to [email protected].

Dear University of Oregon Black Students,

Although it is not a surprise to our community, it is with deep grief that we mourn the killings of our beloved Black sisters and brothers, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Kendra Bell, Laquan McDonald, Ahmaud Arbery, Patrick “Pat Pat” Kimmons, and George Floyd, to name a few. It is especially anguishing for us to pen this letter because we know how these killings are deleteriously affecting your academic pursuits; our shared grief pierces our hopes and makes certainty and control over our lives feel illusory.

In the U.S., especially the city of Eugene, Oregon, and UO, sorrow and distress comes to all. To most, it comes with acridest misery because it emanates as a surprise. To the Black community, especially Black UO students, sorrow and distress is an occurrence we have learned to expect; it is known and felt always. Despite this reality, we, the UO Black Student Task Force, Black Women of Achievement, Black Male Alliance, Black Law Student Association and the African Student Association, stand firm in our solidarity and support for one another. Additionally, while we know perfect relief is impossible, we will continue to rally and keep the thoughts of our aforementioned murdered sisters and brothers in mind, with hopes that it allows their loved ones a temporary alleviation of their permanent distress.

At the UO, anti-Blackness manifests in many ways. If there is any group that has been inflicted with the wrath of anti-Blackness, it is the Black Student Task Force. In our attempt to have an independent Black Studies Department, we have been caricatured, stripped away from access to academic resources, denied from entering public and open talks from our campus (during visits by Bobby Seale, Erika Huggins, etc.), received threatening emails from Ethnic Studies professors, been dropped by our McNair Scholars research thesis chair, and have had the police falsely called on us because we are, quite simply, Black and respectfully working to fulfill our list of demands. In particular, the experience of being threatened for demanding Black Studies Department and being targeted by getting police called on us has been deeply troubling. In the Black community, we all know that any police interaction can easily end in the death penalty for us.

Academically at the UO, studies of the African American experience, especially Black Studies, has received a death penalty since time immemorial. Unlike many universities, the reason Black Studies has been sentenced to academic fatality is not simply due to ill-informed or racist white administrators. Non-Black faculty of color have led in this crusade and engaged in a relentless and determined effort to stop an independent Black Studies Department from arriving at UO. Despite these efforts, BSTF, along with the support of BWA, BSU, ASA, BMA and BLSA have continued to advocate for OUR demand, the arrival of an independent Black Studies Department.

Since November 2015, the Black Student Task Force, with our list of demands in hand, has been, and continues to be, the student group that leads the charge in improving the safety and academic success of UO Black students. With the concurrent support of the BWA, BMA, BLSA, ASA and BSU, the Black Student Task Force will continue to work to accomplish every demand we have penned. We will do so with the support of our united Black student group leadership and overall populace. We will also do so with the forefront, pragmatic and impartial leadership of UO President Michael Schill.

We appreciate and understand the gains we have made on our list of demands. Nevertheless, we understand the need to do more. We need Demand Number 3 to be met, which is a commitment to creating a funding resource and scholarship initiative for African American students. We need UO to hire Black faculty for Black Studies. We need UO to commit to supporting our current Black Studies interim director. We need the UO to commit to hiring Black Studies faculty that have distinguished research and expertise in Black American-centered approach to race. We need Black Studies to continue to be separate from Ethnic Studies and become a Ph.D.-offering department. We need the currently met demands to heed our original intent.

The Black Cultural Center arrived at the UO via our list of demands and continued work. We need to be acknowledged in the BCC. We demand an acknowledgment that is not a mere symbolic gesture; it must be a permanent acknowledgement that will provide pride and teaching moments for future Black students (akin to an interpretive exhibit the university has already committed to). We need to be the authors of our acknowledgment in the BCC. We demand to be acknowledged and write our own biography in the BCC, not for adulation, but to receive just due credit (that African Americans have historically been denied) and subsequently inspire future Black students and avoid ahistorical narratives. If these demands are not met, can the UO administration truly proclaim that Black Lives Matter.

We do not need Black students to heed a recent professor’s editorial of implicitly encouraging African American students to protest and defy city curfew. We ask our Black student populace to not heed to this or any other call that risks them breaking the law and subsequently being killed.

We do not want non-Black students to speak on behalf of us. We do not want non-Black Studies academics to speak on or for the needs of Black Studies and Black students.

We are prepared to make sure our unmet demands come to fruition. We don’t want lip service. We don’t want care or consultation or comfort or a hug. We want tangible and BSTF-inclusive action! Based on President Schill’s history, we remain confident that he does as well.

With heavy heart and solidarity,

UO Black Student Task Force

The UO Black Student Task Force 

Joined in solidarity by,

UO Black Women of Achievement

UO Black Male Alliance

UO Black Law Student Association

UO African Student Association

UO Black Student Union

UO Black Student Task Force is a group of Black students that are committed to utilizing its list of demands and giving Black students equitable access to academic success.