The letter reads as follows:
We are writing this letter both as members of the Black community and as faculty members at Georgia State University.
A number of units and deans at Georgia State University and at other institutions have issued statements addressing the public’s response to pervasive police violence and enduring white supremacist structures and systems, and we felt compelled to write this letter from our unique perspective as African descended people.
We are therefore alarmed by Georgia State University’s police exchange program, which partners with international law enforcement agencies that restrict civil liberties, commit human rights violations, and/or promote bigotry, signaling an aggressive, militarized over-policing of Black people and Black communities.
However, as you acknowledge, 75 percent of the student body is non-white, nearly 70 percent of faculty is white and less than 5 percent of full-time, tenured faculty at GSU is Black, revealing there is still much work to be done with respect to racial diversity, anti-racist policies and practices and meaningful inclusion throughout university life and units.
While Black students have indeed excelled as academic and community leaders, distinguishing Georgia State University on the national stage, they have done so in spite of racism, not due to its absence.
