Thew English department has provided this powerful narrative in support of our Antiracist efforts.  Thank you so much for these words!

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English Department Statement on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

In response to ongoing societal inequities based on race and the deaths of individuals like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Daniel Prude (to name just a few) at the hands of State Power, the English Department of Palomar College stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and affirms its support for our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students, faculty, and staff. Further, we support the current movements to dismantle widespread systemic racism and discrimination. Finally, we commit to continued individual and collective antiracist work in ourselves, our classrooms, our campus, and our larger communities, through the following:

· Interrogating within ourselves our uses of language, discourse, and representation in order to create an environment that fosters equity and social justice.

· Offering ongoing professional development, collaboration, and curriculum review to develop antiracist teaching and assessment practices.

· Maintaining and growing the diversity of our department through recruitment, hiring, and retention.

· Encouraging antiracist practices and frameworks into our coursework through culturally responsive and relevant readings, assignments, and activities in order to validate our BIPOC students’ perspectives and experiences.

· Creating a learning environment that empowers our BIPOC students to understand connections between language, critical thinking, reading, and writing.

· Supporting the Call to Action on Palomar College’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion page and continuing to hold administration and campus leadership accountable for supporting and providing resources and programs to ensure success for our BIPOC students.

Through all of these efforts, we will prioritize combating systemic racism and preventing the marginalization and oppression in all of the spaces that we occupy.