President Vincent Price addressed recent events in Minneapolis and condemned “fundamental and systematic disparities of justice” in the United States in a Saturday statement.
Price’s statement acknowledged the suffering of communities of color and affirmed that Duke will “continue the work of addressing generations of racism and injustice.”
“Every day, throughout our country, African American and other marginalized communities have their safety and dignity threatened—in their places of work, in public spaces, and in their homes and neighborhoods,” Price wrote.
The statement came amid days of protests in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd. A Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, and was captured on video, has since been fired and charged with third degree murder and manslaughter.
The protests began in Minneapolis and have spread across the United States, and there have been incidents of looting and violent confrontations with law enforcement.
Price also noted that the events came after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, and in the context of COVID-19’s disproportionate impacts on communities of color, including in Durham.
“This ongoing history of structural and sustained racism is a fundamental and deeply distressing injustice, here as elsewhere,” Price wrote. “But we as a university must do more than recognize and grieve these circumstances; we must work together to change them.”
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