Anti-Racism at SIUE

Yesterday afternoon, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. This shooting death occurred 10 miles away from the county courthouse where Derek Chauvin is currently being tried for the May 2020 murder of George Floyd.  

As we experience yet another death of an African American at the hands of the police and await the outcome of the Chauvin trial, members of our campus community are undoubtedly processing a range of thoughts and emotions. Many are feeling emotional and mental exhaustion, and grappling with a lack of trust and confidence in the criminal justice system, the result of the accumulated effects of witnessing state violence repeatedly with seemingly no accountability.

In fact, we need not look further than our own backyard and very recent history for an example of this pattern. Several weeks ago, we learned that there were no convictions for the three former St. Louis police officers who assaulted Detective Luther Hall. Hall was working undercover during protests in 2017 following the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockley, found not guilty in the 2011 death of Anthony Lamar Smith.   

While we have the knowledge of these more recent outcomes and the memory of countless other cases and incidents, none of us really know for sure what the outcome of the Chauvin trial will be. We also do not know all the details of the police shooting of Daunte Wright, as that investigation is ongoing. What is clear, however, is that as a University, we must continue to cultivate and increase awareness about racial injustice and work to challenge that injustice both on and off our campus. And, as a campus community, now more than ever, we must continue to stand together and hold space for each other.