Daunte Wright (20 years old), Adam Toledo (13 years old), Ma’Khia Bryant (16 years old) and Mario Gonzalez (26) should still be here. Instead, they were murdered by the police. They could be any one of our Workshop students. We mourn their lives and rage against the systems responsible for their deaths.

It is deplorable that Black and Latinx youth are murdered in the name of white power, white violence, and white imagination on a daily basis. These murders are not an aberration of the system of policing — they are a function of the system. It is a system that won’t stop until it’s stamped out. Advocates of “abolishing prisons and police…have a vision of a different society, built on cooperation instead of individualism, on mutual aid instead of self-preservation.” We share and support this vision and encourage you to join us. The killing of Black and Latinx people must stop.

Policing is one of the many systems that upholds white supremacy through violence and murder, and like all other violent social systems it was created to perpetuate anti-Blackness.
The very systems that empower and protect white supremacists need to be replaced with those that support Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities. It is unacceptable that Amarjeet Kaur Johal, Karli Smith, Matthew R Alexander, Samaria Blackwell, Jaswinder Kaur, Jaswinder Singh, Amarjit Sekhon, and John Weisert lost their lives in Indianapolis. It is unacceptable that Aisha Nava was murdered and the police ruled her death a suicide without an investigation. It is unacceptable that anti-trans legislation is being proposed and passed. These systems – everything from federal policies, policing, prisons, foster care, red-lining, access to healthcare, and academic testing – result in racist violence and loss of beautiful lives. Our communities will never be safe or free until every single person is safe and free. The killing of people of color must stop.

White supremacy and anti-Blackness are the root causes of the greatest harms preventing our students from living safe, full, healthy, creative lives. It is impossible to be of service to our students and communities without rallying against racism with our full force. Although it is not nearly enough, at the Workshop we’re starting by putting our Pro-Black Community Accountability Plan into action to fulfill the commitments we’ve made here. We will continue working and pushing until white supremacy is dismantled, until Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities can live and thrive freely. We need your help; our students need your help. The killing must stop.

Action to take:

In community, Performing Arts Workshop