The Society for
Armenian Studies (SAS) condemns the continuing violence against Black
communities within and outside the United States, and we feel it is a
matter of human dignity and our duty to
express our outrage. As a professional organization dedicated to
understanding the complexities of the past and the present, we stand in
solidarity with the Black Community and other Communities of Color and
commit alongside them to the eradication of white
supremacy, institutional and systematic racism, and anti-Black
violence with the aim to institute justice and human rights. We
acknowledge that we are working in an academic system that was built on
racist hierarchies. There is no meritocracy when racism
is so deeply rooted in our society. Silencing the voices of anyone
(whether based on religion, language, gender, sexuality, skin color,
ethnicity, etc) irreparably diminishes us all. The Executive Council of
SAS stands with the Black Lives Matter movement
and the Black community not only in working against anti-Black
violence, but against all types of racial discrimination which is built
on past historical injustices.