President’s Message on Recent Acts of Violence

There are times when words can’t express our deepest feelings. This is such a time.

How do we process the deadly shootings in Buffalo, Laguna Woods and Uvalde? The seemingly endless violence causes almost unbearable pain and fear. This is unacceptable in a society that values all people—where everyone has the right to grow up, live and thrive.

Amanda Gorman, the 2021 National Youth Poet Laureate, has posed the question about children’s safety in our schools. She shared this poem on Twitter; I’m sharing it with you.
 
Schools scared to death.
The truth is, one education under desks,
Stooped low from bullets;
That plunge when we ask
Where our children
Shall live
& how
& if
 
It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity—it’s inhumanity.
 
The truth is, one nation under guns.
 
What might we be if only we tried.
What might we become if only we’d listen.

The reality is, on the two-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, we continue to experience tragedy. We grieve with our community as we remember George Floyd and so many others who have died in these seemingly endless, brutal assaults. We cannot afford—as a campus, as a state, or as a nation—to let hatred, bigotry and violence define us.

My heart goes out to the innocent victims and all who experience violence each and every day. Peace must prevail. Hope must prevail. Love must prevail. Minneapolis College will continue to reflect these values—each and every day. United, we will create the change we want to see in the world.

Sincerely,

President Sharon Pierce