The Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (RITM) denounces anti-Black violence and the societal structures that have made racist violence a centerpiece of U.S. life. We join our students, faculty, staff, and community members in demanding justice in the cases of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and so many others. We condemn the repression of protesters who have insisted upon an end to police violence. We call upon our leaders, colleagues, friends, neighbors, co-workers, students, alumni, and family members to sacrifice on behalf of the fight for meaningful change at this historic moment. We urge our extended Yale community to dedicate itself to anti-racist struggles in New Haven and beyond – immediately, and in the coming months and years.
The RITM Center commits itself to providing significant and ongoing support to Yale students and faculty members dedicated to anti-racist scholarship and teaching. As an academic center, we will work harder to foster research and pedagogy that addresses past and present violence, oppression, accommodation, and resistance related to race, indigeneity, and transnational migration. We will foster teaching and scholarship on these topics pursued in partnership with individuals and communities outside of the academy. We will push our University, and other colleges and universities, to make anti-racism a guiding principle in higher education. And we will urge our students to educate themselves in, and contribute to, African American Studies and related fields.
We know the profound urgency of this work, and that teaching and scholarship have never been more important for understanding racism and advancing anti-racist struggles.
Stephen Pitti
Director of the RITM Center
Professor of History, ER&M, and American Studies