We stand with Black Lives Matter in their fight to end racial injustice and disparities. The Watershed, Education, Science and Policy Lab at the University of Vermont recognizes the inequalities upon which US and the university are built—from this country’s beginnings as a slave trade nation to the hundreds of years of continued racism and bias against black people to the Land Grant University system that took land from indigenous people and provided it to states as endowments, to the horrors of Eugenics. These atrocities and so many more have kept black, indigenous, and other people of color from advancing economically and socially, hindered their health, and caused their deaths.
We understand that there is implicit bias in each of us that colors our attitudes and influences stereotypes we associate towards people of color without conscious knowledge. We will make conscious effort in our lab to understand the root causes and impacts of systematic racism and other types of discrimination and will actively make efforts to explore, learn and address these biases, inequities, and injustices to dismantle these forms of oppression wherever we find them. We fully stand by and support our fellow UVM black, indigenous, and other people of color, in their fight for racial equity, equal opportunity and justice.