ESE-faculty-list ATTENTION: Purdue March Against Racism (Spread the Word+Join)

[Lee, Linda S]

ESE students and faculty,
Being in Asia, I am very in touch with World events but not much recently about what is happening on the Purdue campus. I thought twice about sending this request out on the ESE list serves, since we try to protect misuse of our list serve, but after further thought, I think that it is appropriate given what ESE is fundamentally about to bring this to your attention.
Some of you may have already gotten the email below from Tyrell Conner – the current President of the Purdue Black Graduate Student Association. While ESE does not have a particular agenda, the ESE IGP is about respecting and valuing each and every individual, and trying to understand each other regardless of our academic or cultural background.  It saddens me to see this ‘racist’ behavior rising up from individuals that I assume are part of our student body or the larger Lafayette Community BUT I want to be confident, that this attitude does not represent the majority. Therefore, I would like you to consider taking a stand against this ‘white supremacy’ behavior, which has reared its ugly head several times in the past 2 years in ways including personally to our own students, and join the Purdue Black Graduate Student Association in their peaceful attempt to get our concerns and intolerance of such behavior recognized.
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Dear all,


On Thursday night the dance studio in the Black Cultural Center on Purdue's campus was vandalized, marking the location as a subject of "White Supremacy." This is just the latest incident in a long string of hatred and racism in this community, and we will not sit idly by as our intimate spaces are defaced and claimed as subjects to systems of oppression.

It is time to stand together, as one community, to let these individuals, University administrators, and the state of Indiana know that we will not allow this kind of action to take place on our campus. This is our house; we will defend it. Stand with us for a march and demonstration this coming Monday, April 22 at 11:30 am beginning at the Black Cultural Center to show your solidarity with the individuals who live this experience on a daily basis. Bring your family, friends and acquaintances to help us make a positive change for the future of race at Purdue.

For the sake of solidarity, please come dressed in black if possible. Also, please bring a candle to add your flame to the collective fire (we will have some extras for those without). We will be coordinating more specifics via the Facebook event (https://www.facebook.com/events/455783991167171/) and an email listserv, so if you would like to be added to the loop just let us know in the Facebook comments.

We hope to see you there,

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Tyrell Connor, M.S.
Purdue University
Sociology, Law & Society, Doctoral Student
Purdue Black Graduate Student Association, President

tconnor at purdue.edu<mailto:tconnor at purdue.edu>

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