August 13, 2020
#BlackoutCalStateLA Labor and Resource Refusal/Boycott
Demands to Make Black Lives Matter and Build a #Freedom Campus at Cal State LA
We, the undersigned, refuse to accept the continuation of anti-Blackness and the complete disregard for Black faculty decision-making and expertise at Cal State Los Angeles. There is a long documented pattern of anti-Blackness on campus that has created a hostile environment for Black students, faculty, staff, and community members. Many Black people and others at Cal State LA have lost confidence in the University leadership’s professed commitment to racial justice, equity, and inclusion. The current national tragedies of institutional anti-Blackness and state-sanctioned violence are not isolated from this institution, even though administrators have done little to address their manifestation on campus.
Instead of the boldness shown by some universities who are owning up to the systemic biases at their institutions, we have experienced disregard, delay tactics, empty platitudes, and rhetoric. This University must not only reflect on its success, but also its failures. Touting the “success” of launching the second College of Ethnic Studies while denying Black faculty, staff, and students equal treatment, and the benefit of a welcoming campus is a travesty. We will no longer allow the selling of this false narrative.
During this #BlackLivesMatter movement-moment of national uprisings against racial injustice and state-sanctioned violence, we call upon Cal State LA to take immediate, concrete steps to eradicate all expressions of anti-Blackness on campus. Administrators must end the practices that have allowed institutionalized racism to flourish—overtly and covertly—in the day-to-day operations of the University. There are several recent examples of anti-Blackness on campus that we will highlight here: See Full Demands Here.
