Our hearts are shattered and sorrowful, and our minds are sobered and disturbed by the deadly violence that has taken place in Charlottesville, VA. This senseless violence has challenged the United States to consider what it actually represents in the twenty-first century—democracy for all or the privileging of white supremacy over the dignity and humanity of non-whites and other people of good will, who reject racism and white supremacy. The Unite the Right movement and its allies in government must be rejected. If allowed to go unchallenged, then white supremacy and the spiritual, moral, and physical violence accompanying it will become normalized in American politics and discourse.
Since 1969, the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) has been devoted to advocating for people of African descent, while simultaneously, serving on the front lines in the fight against white supremacy and various manifestations. We understand that racial terrorism in the name of white supremacy is not a new phenomenon. Hence, we condemn the Unite the Right movement, the violence in Charlottesville, and other acts of racial terrorism that continue to plague this country.
We unite in solidarity to condemn racial terrorism, other vicious acts, and the ideas that support them, and in the tradition of our founding, we will continue to devote scholarship and activism to dismantle white supremacy. We admonish the evil that lurks and aims to perpetuate the hate of times past, in order to attempt to make it thrive in our present. We know and understand that anti-white supremacy activism requires vigilance, safety, and steadfast commitment, as some of its guiding principles.
In this continuing struggle against hate and evil, we esteem persistence in truth and justice in the profession of people’s humanity, and we bid peace unto all, who continue to advocate on behalf of equality.