We Stand with Black Lives Matter

Graphic by Miciana Hutcherson, Áak’w Ta Sháa. Her clan is raven dogsalmon (from the Log Jam House in Angoon), and her ethnicity is Black/Tlingit/Welsh.

Letter from Board Chair Joe Nelson:

#JusticeforGeorgeFloyd

Outraged.

Yes.

Outraged after watching Officer Derek Chauvin murder George Floyd.

Outraged after watching Officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng aid in Chauvin’s murder of Mr. Floyd, an unarmed black man accused of spending a fake $20 bill.

Outraged because our “civilized society” allows police officers to get away with murdering people of color.

Outraged by Amy Cooper threatening the lives of black men by calling 911 to sic the police on them.

Thank you Darnella Frazier. Thank you for having the courage to film and share your video of Officer Chauvin murdering Mr. Floyd. You have ignited something.

Unfortunately, if history has its way, justice will not prevail.

Officers Tim Wind and Ted Briseno were acquitted of violating Rodney King’s civil rights on national television.

Officer Daniel Pantaleo was not indicted for murdering Eric Garner for selling cigarettes.

The six officers who murdered Freddie Gray were never convicted of wrongdoing.

The list goes on and on.

Thank you to all of the police officers who put yourselves in harm’s way to protect us from the bad guys. We appreciate and respect you. But we need your help rooting out the bad guys who are hiding behind your badges. Until we figure out how to do that systemically, we (the People of the Global Majority) are not going to trust you.

People of the Global Majority, it is time to stand up — together.

#BLM

Sealaska Statement:

What does it mean to see our nation take to the streets?

To see our brothers and sisters

Young and old
Left and right

Black and brown

Yellow and white —

Stand as one.

Unite as all.

And take to the streets

Finally screaming

Enough is enough?

It means just that.

Enough is enough.

Racism is an evil that has been ingrained systematically, institutionally and interpersonally since the creation of the Americas. From the stolen lands of the indigenous to the enslavement and capitalization of African Americans, our entire existence as a society has been built on the looting of cultures and the disenfranchisement of people of color. This isn’t controversial. History does not lie; it only attempts to distract.

As Native institutions, we know this history all too well as we have had to continually fight for things that were already ours. Our lands. Our rights. Our children. Our lives. It is not new knowledge that cultures around the world have these shared experiences of historical hurt at the hands of colonizers; so when one community bleeds, we all bleed. We are through accepting this environment of ignorance and corruption as our nation’s “normal.” We refuse to accept that George Floyd was just another black man who was murdered at the hands of our “supposed” protectors like so many others — Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, etc. We say their names. We grieve with their families. We stand in solidarity with the black community and we refuse to utter the statement that “All lives matter” until the system recognizes black lives as part of the whole.

So, what does it mean to see our nation take to the streets today?

It means the people are rising.

It means Black Lives Matter.

It means Enough is Enough.

It is time for accountability. It is time for justice. It is time for action.