The Executive Board of the UUP chapter at Purchase College, SUNY supports the Black Lives Matter movement and its social justice goals. We are outraged by murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many other Black men and women at the hands of the police, and strongly support the concept of reallocating government funds away from increasingly militarized police departments, and toward a strengthened array of social services and a far more comprehensive safety net. We condemn the unwarranted use of force by both local and federal police units against peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters. There must be an end to state violence against the innocent, and an end to discriminatory practices against Black people (and all communities of color) in the justice and penal systems, as well as in electoral processes, health care, education, employment and housing.
While we of course affirm the right of any group to unionize, we are troubled by the behavior of many police unions, which have long sought an unjustified immunity against prosecution for misdeeds and have blocked the transparency good government and a free society require. As long as those policies promoting impunity remain in force, we support the movement to sever ties to such unions within the AFL-CIO.
While these are national issues, they are also matters which have a direct impact on our students and on all those who work at Purchase College. We encourage our members to raise these issues and to be engaged in the hard work (in the classroom, in the curriculum, and in student support), that will be necessary to bring about positive change in the struggle to create an anti-racist campus and society.
In Solidarity,
SUNY Purchase Executive Board
