We stand with you

In times like these, silence is not an option. As such, we here at InQuire have decided to end our silence on the issue that may very well come to define this era in human history. The Black Lives Matter movement and the protests it has brought about, most notably in the past few days, is important and deserves our respect, attention and support. We stand with our black neighbours fighting to be heard in America, here in Britain and all across the world. We hear you, we hear your grief, and grieve with you. We see you, exhausted and desperate, tired of fearing for your own lives, but fighting anyway. We too call for the sentencing of Derek Chauvin and his three accomplices, shielded by white privilege and their badges, who stood silently and watched on. They and every police officer who does not enforce real change is complicit in his death, every officer who has pepper sprayed, tased, tear gassed and shot rubber bullets is also complicit. The world is watching them, we are seeing what is happening and demand justice. George Floyd, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Ryan Twyman, Treyvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Pamela Turner, Dominique Clayton and countless other victims of this senselessness will not have died in vain. We must keep fighting until justice is served, in the immortal words of America’s most influential Civil Rights activist Dr Martin Luther King, “No Justice, no peace”. It is a broken system, and we are urging everyone, our white students, our BAME students to do all they can, to sign petitions, to donate money, to speak out. This issue affects everyone and can no longer be ignored. Stay safe and say their names.

The InQuire Executive Team.