Suffolk community joins demonstrations against racial injustice
President Marisa Kelly wrote to the community in a blog post reaffirming Suffolk's mission as an educational institution to "promote positive change, and to address and combat inequity, institutional racism, and oppression." More action is needed and more will be done.
Suffolk stands with members of the Black community and all people who take part in peaceful demonstrations and lift their voices in the name of justice and progress.
Below are some of our students and alumni who have shared with us images from the protests—from Boston to Austin and Los Angeles. (Thank you to the Performing Arts Office for curating these images and voices from our community.)
Patrick Lovelace, Class of 2020, Boston: "Being at the protest and participating was a powerful experience. Seeing all these people from the Greater Boston area come together in solidarity to raise awareness and fight against the injustices towards the BIPOC community was inspiring. Through graphic posters and group chants it showed that this every humans problem and that folks not apart of the BIPOC community need to do better and take more action steps to help create this change."
Teonna Anderson, Class of 2015, Austin, TX: "Freedom, freedom where are you? Cuz I need freedom, too."
Elektra Tzannos, Class of 2018, Boston: "Please listen to people’s firsthand accounts and not just what the narrow news lens is telling you. They want you to see the violent images above everything else an not the beauty of the first three hours... Now is the time to make the long overdue changes and educate those around us in order to make a better future... Stay safe out there. Say his name. Say all their names."
Kaity Conery, Class of 2017, Los Angeles: "It felt really good to join in on the peaceful protest in Hollywood today. They want us to be scared. They want us to back down. This won’t stop until there is real change. We need REAL change. NOW. There’s power in numbers. We will not and cannot be silenced any longer. #blacklivesmatter"
Wongly Sine, Class of 2019, Boston: "Against my family's wishes and my fear of safety, I decided to attend the protest. Because I'm tired...Tired of seeing it all. Tired of being angry. I protest so that my 17 year old Black brother may not have to. So that he gets a chance to realize his dreams. I protest so my 3 nephews and godson can grow up and hopefully not fear for their lives."
Keynessa Nazaire, Class of 2018: "From George Floyd (2020) to Crispus Attucks (1770), and way before then, we've been fighting for the right to live and the right to a life free from the systematic racism this country was built on. We're fighting racism and we're fighting because we have to. Being silent is being complicit, you can't WILL a change to happen. There's no one way to spark change - protesting, counseling, voting, donating, art, etc. are all necessary parts of resistance. And if the least you can do is get educated, then get started."
Watch Keynessa recite her powerful poem "Legacy" here.