Reflecting on the Anniversary of George Floyd’s Murder

Campus Update

Chancellor Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Carter sent the following message to the UCLA campus community.

Dear Bruin Community:

This past year — and for many years prior — we have seen families and communities across the nation in anguish as people of color have been killed by police. That outrage has helped fuel a powerful and important movement calling for equity and justice.

The list of those killed in just the last twelve months is far too long: Rayshard Brooks, Daunte Wright, Ma’Khia Bryant, Adam Toledo and Andrew Brown, to name only a few. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a former Minneapolis police officer. We must never forget that these deaths diminish every single one of us. While the jury’s verdict in Floyd’s murder brought some sense of justice, it is a small step in how far we have to go to make our society a truly just place, particularly for people of color. We know that one verdict will not root out the racism experienced by far too many in our society. Resolving these injustices requires the courage and persistence of all of us.

While there are no quick and easy answers, UCLA remains firmly committed to doing all we can to champion justice, equity, diversity and dignity both on our campus and in society. From fighting discrimination to better supporting our Black students to improving how we provide public safety, members of our community are working hard to make our campus a more inclusive and equitable environment.

Tomorrow at noon, the RISE Center at UCLA in partnership with the Black Bruin Resource Center and CAPS will host a reflection and healing space to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Also in his honor, the David Geffen School of Medicine; the UCLA Health Office of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; and our campus’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion will co-host a discussion tomorrow at 6 p.m. on the intersection between health care and law enforcement.

We encourage you to participate in these events. All of us can and must do our part to help create a world of compassion, justice and equity for all. If we work together, there are no bounds to what we can achieve.

Sincerely,