Black Lives Matter
LWTech Stands in
Solidarity with the Black Community
Message from the President
Message to the College Community: Anniversary of George Floyd's Murder
Sent on May 25, 2021
Today marks a day of remembrance and solidarity for 569 seconds that changed history. This event has shifted our focus as a nation, and we are committed at LWTech to do our part.
The murder of George Floyd prompted global protests, outcries for restorative justice, and meaningful conversations that shaped how we see our common humanity. We cannot underscore the importance of this moment, and we can't let up on our pursuit of systemic change in our country, in our community, and at our college.
Our country is experiencing a racial awakening and calls for social justice we haven't seen in decades. Since George Floyd's murder, unfortunately, there have been additional incidences of Black people being killed by law enforcement. The racism and violence our Black, Indigenous, Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and People of Color communities experience throughout our country has not lessened. There is still so much work to do to eliminate structural racism in this country and at the college.
As our Executive Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Robert Britten shared, “George Floyd and countless others have paid the ultimate price in this struggle for equality and we cannot allow doubt, fear or hate to undermine our collective desire for unity within our nation and among our fellow human beings.”
We honor George Floyd's life, and we continue to support our Black, Indigenous, Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and People of Color students, faculty, staff, and neighbors who experience racism, hate and violence. I, along with the Board of Trustees and Executive Cabinet, are more committed than ever to continue our work to eliminate structural racism at the college, steeped in empathy for those who are living each day with the trauma and fatigue of experiencing racism.
There are anniversaries you celebrate and there are anniversaries you honor. Today, we take this time to pause, reflect upon George Floyd's life and those 569 seconds that changed our world. We forge ahead and do the work to dismantle structural racism at the college, as we continue to heal and grow as a country and as a community.
Amy
Past Messaging and Timeline of Actions
June 5, 2020
The murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer, has ignited in all of us new level of sadness, frustration, anger, and disappointment in the systemic racism, oppression and violence that people of color, specifically black people, experience in our country every day.
In addition to the alarming number of unarmed black men and women killed while in police custody, the country has been saddened and horrified by the systemic racism that plagues our health care system, and how that has directly manifested in the disproportionate deaths of black and brown Americans from COVID-19. The common denominator is systemic racism and anti-blackness that runs generations deep in our country. Now is our time to dismantle those systems on our campus, in our community, and in our country.
This past Tuesday, June 2, members of Executive Cabinet and I met with our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council (EDIC) leadership team, and members of the Associated Student Government (ASG) leadership team, to discuss ways that we as a college community can take action, and how we can best support our black students and colleagues.
Directly following that meeting, Executive Cabinet and I met to discuss next steps and our action plan.
I want to convey to you that it is a priority for me, and Executive Cabinet, to provide the necessary resources for our college community to do this important and necessary work.
I also want to acknowledge that this is a very painful time for our black students and colleagues. Oftentimes, the burden to lead conversations about race, racism, injustice, inclusion, and inequities falls disproportionally on colleagues of color. I do not want this burden to fall on them again this time.
Now is the time for all of us to stand together and support our black students and colleagues.
College leadership is working in partnership with the EDIC and ASG to create a short-term and long-term plan for how the college will work to end systemic racism and violence against black people in this country.
Yesterday, I presented the draft plan to the members of the EDIC for input and discussion. The plan will be shared on this page in the coming days.
There is no end date for this work. It is my commitment and promise to you, to keep this work to end systematic racism and oppression, at the forefront of how we, as a college, move forward. It is our responsibility as educators to teach inclusion and acceptance, and to weave this into our coursework and operations. It is our responsibility as human beings to stand up to racism and oppression of black people.
I encourage you to check back to this page often, as we will be providing regular updates on resources and plans.
Together, we stand in solidarity with the black community.
Amy
Dr. Amy Morrison, President
Lake Washington Institute of Technology
Background on LWTech Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Work
For more than seven years, the faculty and staff of LWTech have engaged in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work, which led to the creation of an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan, which incorporated two years of feedback from the college community. The college then formed an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which later was moved to Council status. It also led to standing up the RISE Center (Resources for Inclusion, Support and Empowerment) with a full-time coordinator, in collaboration with the Associated Student Government. The college opened the Center for Veteran Student Success with a full-time coordinator in 2016, and began its Community of Belonging initiative in 2017.
The following timeline is comprised of action steps that were made in response to the senseless murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by white Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020.
Actions Timeline
May 31, 2020: Dr. Morrison, President, LWTech emailed a message to the college community denouncing the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by white Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020.
June 2, 2020: President Morrison and the members of Executive Cabinet met with EDIC and ASG Leadership.
June 2-3, 2020: Dr. Morrison, with input from EDIC and ASG leadership drafted an Action Plan of short-term and long-term actions the college would take to end systemic racism at the college and in the community.
June 4, 2020: The draft Action Plan was brought to the EDIC for input.
June 5, 2020: A website splash page (homepage takeover), slider, and landing page were created on the college website that said the college stands in solidarity with the black community. The landing page includes statements from the president, college leaders, and departments.
June 9, 2020: Dr. Morrison and members of Executive Cabinet met with EDI and ASG Leadership.
June 12, 2020: The college Action Plan was shared with college community.
June 16, 2020: Dr. Morrison hosted an Employee Roundtable to discuss the Action Plan.
June 19, 2020: The college held three facilitated Courageous Conversations: Race Based Caucuses for faculty and staff.
June 23, 2020: Dr. Morrison and members of Executive Cabinet met with EDI and ASG Leadership.
July 7, 2020: President Morrison participated in the Bias Response Team meeting.
July 7, 2020: President Morrison sent a letter to the Kirkland City Council who were holding a public hearing that evening to hear a draft Resolution R-5434, affirming that Black Lives Matter, in addition to establishing a framework to becoming a safe, inclusive and welcoming community. Her letter outlined LWTech's efforts to dismantle systemic racism and our support of this work. She reiterated the College's work and commitment to working with the City to making the College community more inclusive while supporting and listening to our Black neighbors.
July 10, 2020: Dr. Morrison appointed the Executive Director of HR and the Vice President of Student Services to co-chair the Antiracism Training and Professional Development Task Force.
July 16, 2020: Dr. Morrison scheduled a roundtable discussion with Black/African American colleagues.
July 22, 2020: Dr. Morrison scheduled an all employee roundtable to discuss college efforts around dismantling systemic racism at the college, along with discussions on the budget, and COVID-19 preparations on campus this summer and fall.
July 30, 2020: LWTech employees had the opportunity to participate in Courageous Conversations, as part of the professional development training sessions related to antiracism. This training format was structured as race-based caucuses.
August 19, 2020: LWTech's Leadership Team participated in a Dismantling Systemic Racism meeting and worked on drafting their official Commitment statement to Dismantling System Racism.
August 26, 2020: LWTech's Leadership Team participated in the Antiracism Training Opportunity as part of the ongoing professional development series. This event will was formatted as a Courageous Conversation with the entire college community being together.
September 21, 2020: All staff had the opportunity to participate in antiracism training with an external speaker, Natalie Gillard, who guided the staff through an educational “game” called Factuality.
September 22, 2020: All staff came together for antiracism training related to microaggressions from Dr. Yoshiko Harden, Vice President of Student Services at Seattle Central College.
September 22-23, 2020: LWTech staff had the opportunity to participate in open forums for presentations by finalists for the Executive Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion position.
September 30, 2020: LWTech hired Executive Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
December 14, 2020: LWTech staff spent part of their In-Service day participating in a presentation by Melia LaCour on Understanding and Responding to Microagressions.
January 5-6, 2021: LWTech staff will be two engaging and interactive professional development days to discuss Why EDI, Why now! The topics will span our collective learning around our institutional approach to dismantling systemic racism and how we see ourselves. There will be a Q&A with one of the EDI liaisons from SBCTC to answer questions about SBCTC's involvement in supporting this work.
Resources
The Protests
- The Guardian - George Floyd Protests What We Know So Far
- Time Magazine - Black People Protesting White People Responsible What Happens Next
Additional Resources
- How You Can Help Demand Justice for George Floyd
- Danger of Being Silent TEDTalk
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Statement
- "A riot is the language of the unheard" Speech from Martin Luther King Jr.
Reading Lists
- An Anti-Racist Reading List (New York Times)
- Victoria Alexander's list of readings for how to be a better ally to Black people (Twitter)
- A list of readings for this moment of radicalization (Twitter)
- 10 Books About Race to Read Instead of Asking a Person of Color to Explain Things to You (Bustle)
- Readings on Racism, White Supremacy, and Police Violence in America (LitHub)
Readings
- Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, change the world, and become a good ancestor by Layla F. Saad
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson
- White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo
- Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer Eberhardt
- Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
- Slavery By Another Name: The Re-enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to WWII by Douglass A. Blackmon
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes affect us and what we can do by Claude Steele
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Brian Stevenson
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Podcasts
- NPR's Code Switch - Race and society
- The Nod - Dimensions of Black life
- The Stoop - Blackness, race, and identity
- Identity Politics - Race, gender, and Muslims in America
- 1619 Audio Series - Retelling of history by arrival of first slave ship in America
Films & Videos
- 13th - a documentary examining racial inequality in the prison system
- What Matters - series by Black Lives Matter
- Just Mercy - a film about Bryan Stevenson, Civil rights lawyer and career working with mass incarceration
- King in the Wilderness - a documentary about the final years of Martin Luther King, Jr
- Segregated by Design - an examination of federal, state, and local governmental segregation
- Kanopy's recommended videos on Social and Systemic Injustice