Our hearts and minds are heavy and saddened at the nonsensical murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota of George Floyd, an unarmed Black male, father and son. Unfortunately, we are consistently brutally reminded of the injustices, inequalities, challenges and frustrations that oppress the Black community, as we saw with Breonna Taylor, Ahamud Arbery and many others. Somehow, these murders and other unjust racial incidents occur, and we still have not seen substantive change in the treatment of African Americans at the hands of law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

We must be clear in understanding the fact that this is not an isolated incident, there are racial injustices happening all across the country and it is up to each and every single one of us to recognize and dismantle them in search of a better society and a better future that is free of racial oppression. As we have seen from history, cruel incidents like this are set to occur again unless we join together and support to make a difference for the Black community. Not only do we demand justice, we demand change.

We commend the actions of the Minnesota Student Association and even further applaud the advocacy of Jael Kerandi, the undergraduate Student Body President, and their leadership. It is a testament to the power and importance of the student voice in ensuring that we are able to feel and be safe on and near campus.

Guided by some of our core values of Social Justice & Educational Equity, CSSA will pursue its mission guided by the belief that social injustices resulting from various forms of oppression must be addressed. We do this by ensuring that the CSU and systems that influence outcomes for CSU students are justly organized to remove barriers to success for underserved and marginalized communities. We have a commitment to our student body, to ensure the academic success and holistic educational experience of all CSU students and promote student health and safety.

As the incoming and outgoing student body presidents for CSSA, the largest 4-year student body organization in the nation, as a black man and a muslim woman, and as allies ; It is our duty to call out injustices and utilize our platform to do our best to address racism on and around our campus community. It is our commitment as CSSA to be the official voice of CSU students and we call on the University community to reaffirm their efforts to ensure that our students are safe and supported through racial injustice. We call on all students to learn more about what’s happening in your community, call out racism, support causes that move society forward, sign petitions, and vote.

In Community, Advocacy, and Solidarity,

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