Statement from the Board, June 2 2020

A Statement from the Board of the 
African American Heritage House at Chautauqua

June 2, 2020

Dear Friends of the African American Heritage House (AAHH) and the Chautauqua Community:

Like many Americans, we, the board members of the AAHH, are distressed, disturbed and devastated as a result of the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and the threatening surveillance of birder Christopher Cooper. However, we understand these acts not as isolated incidents, but within the context of our country’s legacy of racial oppression and indiscriminate violations of and violence upon black bodies. Therefore, we unequivocally name and experience these acts as racist and clearly recognize them to be the fruits of a white privileged culture that has little respect for and puts little value on the lives of black and brown people.

As a project with a mission to partner with the Chautauqua Institution to make it a place where black people are welcomed and find a sense of belonging, and that values diversity, equity and inclusion, we find these atrocities committed against black people abhorrent. We are further disturbed, in particular, that they are part of a centuries old pattern of law enforcement’s highly problematic relationship with black people and their communities. We long for justice to be done on behalf of the victims of these most recent events and their families. And, because we know these acts are symptoms of an illness that plagues American society, we understand that the wellness of our country is dependent upon the transformation of all systems, institutions and structures that create the conditions which allow such injustices to persist.

We refuse to permit the shocking, anxiety producing state of current affairs to back us into a corner of impotency and endless grieving. We at the AAHH hold the mirror up to ourselves and ask, what shall we do? We implore Chautauqua, an institution in which we take great pride as an affiliated project and whose mission we hold dear, and all Chautauquans to do the same.

In answering the question, what shall we do, it would be intellectually dishonest and a preservation of the status quo, to suggest black people and white people have the same work to do. Our experience and knowledge tell us that simply exhorting us “all to do better” without distinction, renders invisible the painful experiences of black people and absolves white people of their full responsibility. We must not perpetuate this inequity.

We are all responsible. We all have work to do. We encourage black people to intentionally embrace practices of self-care, engage in mutual support, find time to evoke and lament and create spaces to exercise your memory of the creative genius you have shown in order to survive and prosper since landing on the shores of Jamestown in 1619. We also urge black people to take up the mantle of leadership to continue the critical work of dismantling racism in our society.

Similarly, we encourage our white neighbors, who have benefited from the cumulative advantage of white privilege across the ages to do the necessary work to acknowledge, accept and understand this reality. Remember, that over the long and trying struggle for our country to be a more perfect union, there have been moments when white and black citizens have transcended the constructed barriers of the color line, in order to fight for justice together. We urge you to consider your role in transcending that line today. We ask you to acquire the skills to be racially literate, learn together, challenge each other, hold one another accountable, and acquire both the will and the wherewithal to act to interrupt structural racism.

We are committed. As a project, the AAHH will continue its work of sharing information, stories and perspectives that confront racial issues, provoke people to think and challenge them to do their part in making change. And, we invite you to share the work with us.

May we move with the urgency this hour demands and be inspired by the moral voice of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who both reminded us that “The time is always right to do right,” while also challenging us that “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

In Courage and Hope,

African American Heritage House (AAHH) Board of Directors

Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell

Erroll B. Davis, Jr.- President

Ted First

Geof Follansbee- Treasurer

Rev. Dr. Robert Michael Franklin, Jr.

Rev. Dr. Sterling E. Freeman

Dr. Helene D. Gayle- Vice President

Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Hale

Edward M. Jones

Ernest Mahaffey- Secretary

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III

Rev. Dr. Albert Pennybacker

Tim Renjilian