June 2, 2020

 

Dear UHS Community of students, parents, alumni, trustees and friends,

 

It is with heavy hearts that we are reaching out to the wider community of San Francisco University High School. We want you all to know how we are responding to the horrific intentional and repetitive acts of violence against Black people in America. Currently, our faculty and staff is a community of 100 adults made up of varied races, genders, sexual orientations and religions, and we stand united in the belief that Black Lives Matter.

 

While Covid-19 continues to ravage the global community, we are reminded that another pandemic rages on, the pandemic of violence against Black lives in this country that further exposes the deep structural racism that plagues our nation. For some, the most recent and very public murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and George Floyd, as well as the threatening act of Amy Cooper in Central Park, have been shocking. However, these crimes against Black bodies have been acted out and legally condoned over hundreds of years—from the times of enslaved Africans classified as property to public lynchings to a lack of access to quality education to legal systems in place such as redlining that prevented Black people from owning and living in homes in specific areas. We are watching this play out in our current reality of Covid-19 as Black people in under-resourced areas are dying at a disproportionately high rate.

 

Systemic racism is no shock to Black people in America. We have all seen too many images of the murders and oppression of Black and Brown people in our communities, of our friends, colleagues, siblings, parents and caregivers. The oppression supported by laws and state-sanctioned violence for generations have led us all to this moment: a moment when we ask every member of our school community, past and present, to stand for justice. 

 

As educators, keeping in mind our values of Integrity, Care, Inquiry, Interconnection, and Agency as well as the UHS Statement on Equity and Community, we commit to the following: 

• Naming and dismantling white supremacy within our community;
• Self-educating about the historical roots of oppression and their impacts on us today;
• Centering education on equity and justice work with our students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents, and our Board of Trustees by continuing to support ongoing programs;
• Centering Black, Indigenous, People of Color voices among our community as well as in our curriculum planning, our external speaker selections, our parent education events and beyond;
• Continuing to center equity, justice, and cultural competency in our recruitment and hiring practices;
• Self-educating about the historical roots of oppression and its impact on us today
• Prioritizing this work even when it’s not in the headlines.
   

We ask all members of the extended UHS community to stand with us in support of Black Lives. This is a call to action that is meaningful, not empty or performative. What will you do and with whom will you partner? We particularly call upon the white members of our community to join us in this work and engage with the difficult and necessary reckoning with the legacy of white supremacy.

 

In the coming days, we will be posting some possible action steps on our website that range from reading to engaging in upcoming events. We look forward to coming together as a community in this urgent, essential and long overdue work. Without access and voice; without compassion and understanding; without justice and healing; there will be no peace for this country. 

 

In solidarity with the Black people in our community and everywhere,

 

The faculty, staff, and administration of San Francisco University High School