A Call to Action
Dear AUSL Community,
The Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) stands with our students, parents, partners, and the entire Black community to speak out against racism and injustice. We join the voices of communities in Chicago and nationwide to seek racial justice.
The lack of progress, change, and injustice, specifically when it comes to the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police violence, has ignited frustration, anger, and unrest. This is a critical moment in our country. We understand the psychological effects of the current health pandemic along with the distress caused by joblessness, a polarized political environment, and the continuation of injustice based on being Black in America.
Protestors across the country are advocating for criminal justice reform and speaking out on the systemic racism that is insidious in our society.
“…a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? … It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
AUSL affirms our support to end systematic racism and to the Black Lives Matter movement. We will continue to work tirelessly to deliver on the promise that both Black and Brown students have access to an excellent education. We mourn the loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and thousands of others. We rededicate ourselves to work in collaboration with others to change systems that protect anti-blackness.
As Dr. Ibram X. Kendi said it is not enough to be “not racist” but to affirm the importance of being “aggressively against racism.”
In Solidarity,
AUSL Management Team