I am a veteran who joined the U.S. Navy to better myself, to defend my country, to protect the things that we were told to believe in. So for me it hits a little extra hard, seeing what is happening to black people.

But I am becoming more hopeful for the future. I see I'm not the only one who is tired. I’m not the only one who is upset, who feels sad. Everyone feels the same and not just here in America. Everybody is coming together, people standing up and fighting for equality. Bills are being pushed forward, conversations are being had. I needed to see that unity.

These last few weeks I’ve done everything I can on social media to educate people on what’s going on. I think that’s the most important thing, actively researching and looking into what we can do.

—Khori Potter, senior English education major

I would say that most white people have stood on the sidelines for many years regarding the frequent and systemic murder of unarmed black men and women, either at the hands of the police or white people who have deputized themselves to police black people and their free movement. These stories are legion and dominate news cycles for a brief time only to disappear. Not so with George Floyd.

For many, watching the murder of George Floyd on TV was a visceral experience. People felt it in their gut. This moment, therefore, has made it much more difficult for white Americans to distance themselves from racism, or claim ignorance, or turn a blind eye. Now at the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement has been on the move, growing, mobilizing, collecting and sharing resources since its formation after the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012. They have been marching, tweeting, blogging, sharing stories and working to create a national dialogue on the need for racial justice for more than seven years.

—Heather Russell, senior associate dean, School of Environment, Arts and Society, College of Arts, Sciences & Education (read her 2019 FIU Magazine essay)

I sit here with mental exhaustion, with internal conflict as a black woman, born at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami, reared in Liberty City, also a graduate of Miami Northwestern Senior High. Then educated at three of the major universities here in Florida, to ultimately have earned a master’s degree, only to see myself here today, perplexed and haunted by the recent deaths of Mr. George Floyd and of Ms. Breonna Taylor, who look like me and warranted no justified reason for their deaths. Unfortunately, we’ve seen many such deaths in our black community that have not risen to the level of public discourse as this. This time is different. It’s different. This time the curtains have been drawn back and the world has been able to see what a person like me has had to learn to navigate every day.

—El pagnier Hudson, vice president of Human Resources, from comments presented during the FIU Town Hall: A Discussion about Diversity, Unity and Action

I don’t want my sons, my husband, my father, my brother, my nephews—I don’t want them to become hashtags.

—Candice Ammons-Blanfort Ph.D. '19, instructor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

Listen and watch as FIU Professor Donna Aza Weir-Soley reads her original poem, 8 minutes and 46 seconds, debuted during Black Humanity Matters: A Teach-In on the Crisis of Race in America, hosted by FIU’s Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment.

I remember having “The Conversation” with my parents. “The Conversation” is the talk that all black and non-white parents had or plan to have with their children. Why? Because our parents need to have these conversations with us before we start assuming we have an equal level of protection as our white counterparts, or before we end up under the knee of one of the boys in blue for eight minutes. Each version of “The Conversation” is different, yet the same in sentiment. It may detail the following: why you’ll be perceived as a threat regardless of age, stature and socioeconomic status; why you’ll have to work twice as hard to be considered half as great; why you might be the only person who looks like you in a room; and why you should be wary of the police- the same police that some grow up believing are there to protect and to serve. In other words, the police are not there to protect and serve you.

—Caldwell Harris, junior international business and marketing major, from a recently published FIU News essay

I think as students, as a younger generation, we’re now not only educating ourselves but we’re educating those around us who may not be part of the black community. We’re educating those that may not understand why this is so important to us. Hopefully, students my age are going to law school after this. Hopefully, students my age are trying to become police officers and law enforcement officers to change the system, to actually change what is a wrong with the justice system right now.

—Artrice Shepherd, president of FIU’s Black Student Union, from comments presented during the FIU Town Hall: A Discussion about Diversity, Unity and Action

This is a young people’s movement. They are the tip of the arrow. They are the ones who got out, who protested, who demonstrated. It was the young people who never let up. The old people, for the most part, have become complacent through gradualism. The young people have decided, we’re not waiting another generation, we’re going to make some noise. They've hit the streets so hard, so unified, so relentless. I'm proud of them.

But it's not a time to celebrate. Now it's about strategy and solutions, policy making and accountability.

—Dwayne Bryant ’93, founder of Inner Vision International and author of The Stop: Improving Police and Community Relations (read his 2019 FIU Magazine essay)

Everybody must remember that this is a problem of duration of 401 years. Everybody who does not live in the black community believes that there is more police brutality and police murders going on right now. Nothing could be further from the truth. Will Smith said it best: Racism is not getting worse. Racism is getting filmed so that people who live and work outside our community see what we experience every day. And why especially black mothers fear their husbands, their brothers and their children even going outside to jog, going outside to work, going outside to the playground. Because a confrontation with a police officer could cause you your death.

We saw this month the police trying to detain a white man at the airport and he was resisting so they grabbed him. They didn’t even punch him, and when they grabbed him he said, 'you’ll are treating me like I’m black.' So everybody knows that there’s a difference in the treatment. So I want to talk to the young people because you have got to keep the pressure on. When you take the pressure off, then the system will revert like it has done for 401 years.

—H.T. Smith, director, Trial Advocacy Program, College of Law, from comments presented during FIU Insights: I Can’t Breathe

We are dealing with heightened levels of anxiety and crying out in anguish at what continues to happen to black people all over this country.

Carleen Vincent-Robinson, associate chair, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

As communities across the nation speak out against racial injustice and inequality, we must summon our better angels to identify and implement initiatives that can begin the lifelong work to impactfully address the issues of inclusion and equity, particularly as they relate to our FIU. The time to act is now.

At FIU, we must root out any semblance of racism, bigotry and implicit bias. We must foster inclusion for members of the black community as well as other groups who feel excluded from the fairness, equal treatment, and opportunity called for by our mission and values.

We have a renewed commitment to play a key role in social justice and equal opportunity. To move forward, I have asked this core advisory group to spend the next 30 days reviewing options and initiatives that can help us reform and improve the approach to our work. They will work collaboratively and consult widely - both inside and outside of FIU - on specific initiatives that will help us reduce and eliminate disparities and inequities in our work environment. This group will solicit advice, suggestions, position papers, data analysis and evidence to include in their recommendations.

—President Mark B. Rosenberg, from a June 11 letter to the university community announcing the Equity Action Initiative (read his draft document in support of change at FIU)

The only way to guarantee the best possible outcome for people is to join them. I am definitely in a more privileged place than others, but I feel that it's important to lend my voice. Now is a very crucial time. I feel legislators are listening.

I’ve gone to marches because I wanted to pay my tribute to Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and everyone else who has been impacted by police brutality. But the issue is so much bigger than police brutality.

I feel like people are ignorant on the topic. They don’t understand the struggle, the injustices in this country. Everyone needs to come together and really think about what’s true and what matters. As a nonblack person, you should just be open to listening.

—Marisol Blanco, senior English literature major

From an educational perspective, I look at the disparities, particularly for African American students, because of the history of U.S. racism. We see the same old problems are still here, from lack of African American representation in the sciences and higher education to unfair treatment before the law.

I think of my own family. We were poor growing up. I didn’t realize we didn't have a lot of money, but we were privileged in that we were white Hispanic. We had lots of opportunities, for education and mentorship. In many cases, those opportunities are not available to some because of systemic racism.

As difficult as it is, my own community can be racist at times. You have to confront and reflect on these biases, implicit and explicit.

—Leticia Vega ’93, professor of biology, Barry University

Emily Gresham oversees the Innovation and Economic Development unit as a vice president in the Office of Research and Economic Development.

I believe, at our heart, we actually can’t build a bridge to the future unless we confront our past and the urgent present. We all know the name of George Floyd, but how many of us know the name of William Simmons, Roy Gaines, J.B. Harris? These are young black men who were lynched, murdered, right here in Miami-Dade County in 1919, 1920. There's no monument, there’s no memorial for them.

It’s incumbent on all of us to embrace a common understanding of our history. How many of us know that Dr. King actually wrote the I Have a Dream Speech at the historic Hampton House right in Liberty City? How many of us know these pieces of our history?

We have to understand and truly begin to process the elements of Miami’s story. The ghost of Jim Crow has not actually gone away.

—Saif Ishoof, vice president for Engagement, from comments presented during the FIU Town Hall: A Discussion about Diversity, Unity and Action

I am half Peruvian and half Polish, and both my parents were immigrants to this country. I grew up in a small town in Maine in which my family did not quite seamlessly blend. My ex-husband is African U.S. American, and I have two brown children, both girls. I have always had the benefit of white privilege but many of my loved ones have not.

I do not and cannot know firsthand the experiences and traumas of being black in this country. I, and those among us like me, can, though, speak up in the face of racism. The adage “it is not my problem” could not be more wrong. It is precisely our problem, in both senses of the word, as an issue and as a difficulty. When you are at a meeting or a social event or anywhere and someone says something racist, whether implicitly or explicitly, say something, do something, intervene. It may be difficult or uncomfortable. Do so anyway. Practice in your mirror if you need to—whatever it takes.

Ana G. Luszczynska, associate professor, chair, Department of English, from comments presented during Black Humanity Matters: A Teach-In on the Crisis of Race in America, hosted by FIU’s Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment