The Department of Italian Studies is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and to freedom and justice for all members of our communities. We grieve the senseless violent deaths of George Floyd, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Chantel Moore and too many others. We are painfully aware that systemic racism is not just a problem “out there” but that it reaches into our own hearts and community, and that it shapes more of our actions than we may know or wish to acknowledge. We wish to be agents of change, and we express now our support
- For Black and Indigenous people who experience violence and discrimination simply while going about their daily lives.
- For those engaged in public protest on behalf of the oppressed and who themselves suffer at the hands of public authorities.
- For communities who have never not known fear of violence and injustice and where hope is hard to hold on to.
We aim to become sensitized to the privileges we carry and benefit from every day, and we call on our country, our leaders and ourselves to recognize, to lament, and to act boldly in eliminating racism, prejudice and inequity. We aim to work for change in those areas where we have responsibility and agency. We aim to support those in our university, our city, our countries, and our world who speak out against injustice, and who work to change the systems that perpetuate discrimination and violence.