Dear Geographers and Sustainers,  

 

We are writing to offer our unequivocal support for Black people and the Black Lives Matter movement. As we finish out the 2020-2021 academic year and prepare for an eventual return to campus, we return to and affirm the statement of the American Association of Geographers Black Geographies Specialty Group denouncing white supremacy and business as usual. As Geography graduate students at UTK named in June 2020, Geographers can contribute through community-engagement and social justice-oriented research, teaching, and advocacy. We are committed to confronting racism and advancing research and teaching of critical race theory and African American, Black, and ethnic studies both within and outside Geography as a way to educate and combat 500 years of colonial violence. We recognize the colonial, imperialist, white supremacist, and heteropatriarchal roots of our discipline and recommit ourselves to the work of transforming Geography and higher education to cultivate spaces of learning that welcome, encourage, respect, affirm, and foster Black scholars, Black geographic inquiry, and diverse ways of knowing.  

The verdict in the trial for the murder of George Floyd is an important moment of police accountability that followed international protest against anti-Black violence and police terror. Much work remains to realize racial justice. This month has brought profound grief, hurt, and outrage following the deaths of Daunte Wright, Ma’Khia Bryant, Andrew Brown Jr., and in Knoxville, of Anthony Thompson Jr. at Austin East High School at the hands of police. We send our deepest condolences to the families and communities affected by these tragedies. We stand in solidarity with Black freedom struggles and with uprisings against anti-Black racism. As educators and students, we are also committed to a world in which Black youth feel safe and supported at school.  

 

Solidarity requires on-going commitment to action and dialogue for systemic change. We have outlined a starting point for this work in Geography and will report on our steps to make our curriculum, hiring, community engagement, and efforts to recruit and support students more equitable as we continue into the next academic year. 

Signed, 

Nikki Luke and Solange Muñoz (diversity committee co-chairs) 

Derek Alderman (interim department head) 

Nicholas Nagle (associate department head)

Liem Tran (associate department head)