As the number of civilians protesting police brutality against Black people and people of color continues to increase, we find that we, too, cannot stay silent. The systemic police killings of countless Black Americans — including the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade — have gone unchecked for far too long, and police officers have continuously been applauded and excused for their violent and lethal actions.
As the independent student newspaper at Mount Holyoke College, we stand in solidarity with protestors across the nation in their pursuit of justice and reform. We support all members of the Mount Holyoke community and beyond as they exercise their rights to free speech and assembly. We condemn the police state for its systemic racism and targeting of people of color. We acknowledge that the police state was formed to protect and uphold a white supremacist system, and as such, cannot be simply reformed; police originated as slave patrols and night watches designed to control indigenous and Black communities. We call for the meaningful allyship of white people within our organization and beyond, in the forms of donation, protest and listenership.
Even as we urge our institution and our peers to take action, we must also turn inwards. Journalism has long upheld the false equivalency of “both sides-ism,” attempting to signal neutrality without fully assessing opposing truth claims or evaluating historical context. In the nationwide protests, many media publications have equivocated violence against Black bodies with property damage. They have relied on showcasing the trauma of Black bodies instead of focusing on the root causes that allow those traumas to be perpetuated. In the context of racial injustice, this kind of false objectivity is a form of violence.
Our own newspaper has historically struggled in our outreach to communities of color on campus. While we wholeheartedly condemn the brutality and fascism of the police state, we acknowledge that in our reporting we have sometimes been complicit in failing to elevate BIPOC voices. We must do better and strive for anti-racism.
Times must change. We lend our unequivocal solidarity to all individuals protesting the murder of Black people and the reprehensible treatment of people of color nationwide, and those advocating for the abolition of the police state.
The Mount Holyoke News Editorial Board