 Welcome, everyone. My name is Stephanie Sanders, and I am the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer in the Ford School. Thank you for joining us today to commemorate the life of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others who suffered and died from police brutality, racist violence, and systemic injustice. So these are Black lives. They are Black bodies, sons and daughters, human beings. They matter, and they are still deeply loved by their families, their friends, and communities. And if we could be together at this time in person, we would gather in the hall, in Annenberg Auditorium, out of tradition, to comfort and console one another, and to voice solidarity for those who call for justice for lives in Black communities killed at the hands of police. Instead, we're gathered together to do the same. This is also a way to mark our recommitment as a school to end systemic racism. We say that Black lives matter. We recognize that this memorial is not a solution to a very complex and layered problem with a lengthy history. It is, however, a necessary start to acknowledge our pain and begin thinking about ways to channel that pain into actionable outcomes. So as you can see from your screens, we do have a number of people joining us today, including faculty, staff, and students. And we encourage everyone, if you're comfortable, to leave your cameras on so that we can see and affirm one another in this space. So thank you again for attending today's memorial. And next we will hear from Dean Barr followed by three Ford School student leaders. Michael. Thank you, Stephanie. And thank you all for joining us for this memorial and reflection. We're here to be in solidarity with the families of George Floyd, Rihanna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmed Arbery, and so many others who have lost their lives to racist violence and institutionalized racist injustice. We're here together to change our society so that it is clear what we all know that Black lives matter. We need to do the hard work every day of combating racial injustice and building a better society in the Ford School in our communities across the country and around the world. Now we're going to remain silent for eight minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd. But we're not going to remain silent after that. We're silent in this moment so we can speak loudly when we're done. We're silent for this moment so that we can regain the strength we need, and that we have to speak out. Ford School family, please know that none of you is alone. I stand with you and let us all stand together. We're going to hear next from Baltazar Hernandez, Sydney Gardner Brown, and Tanya Amola. Hello, Forties. I'm Baltazar Hernandez, and I'm the chair of the Students of Color and Public Policy at the Ford School. I would like to send my condolences to the Floyd, Taylor, Arbery, McDade, and countless other families who are suffering from structural racism, police violence, and anti-Blackness. Black lives matter. We as non-Black allies with proximity to Whiteness must continue to affirm through our voices and our collective actions that Black lives matter. It is incumbent upon us as future policymakers, decision makers, and leaders in the United States and across the world to be stakeholders in addressing institutionalized racism. This is about people's lives. Some of us know more intimately the history of how U.S. policies have either neglected or actively and adversely impacted Black communities. Some members of our community have borne the brunt of these policies. Frankly, I would like to embed and deepen the study of racism in the courses that I've taken at the Ford School. During this pandemic, we have seen the disparate impact the health crisis has had on Black lives. Black wealth has been destroyed by systematic failures by our government to provide emergency funding for Black businesses. In our very classes, we've seen evidence of racial discrimination in the labor and credit markets. How will we as a community with our toolkits deepen our commitment to anti-racism work? I'm encouraged by our community of allies and anti-racist policy practitioners. We've seen students step up to the plate and demand more anti-racist curricula, and we challenge ourselves to be actively anti-racist in our policy practice and research. We understand that the DE and I work to address broader institutional challenges will remain important and necessary as we continue to engage with communities impacted by state-sanctioned police violence. Our activism will take many forms and should be led by our communal love and righteous anger. Each of us has the moral duty to challenge the racist policies and structures that we encounter daily. Skip as an organization is committed to showing up for each other and advocating for racial equity, and we will work to right the wrongs of the legacy of racism. In sum, this is not a moment. In every moment, we should be compelled to address racism in the classroom, in the workplace, and we should be willing to advocate for people who we do not know personally. Thank you. Thank you, Baltazar. Hello, everyone. My name is Sydney Gardner Brown, and I am a rising senior studying urban and environmental policy with a minor in African American and African Studies, and I'm currently serving as the chair of undergraduate students of color and public policy. I keep having this urge to say with regard to this season of civil unrest that the past month has, this past month has been overwhelming and it has given the COVID-19 pandemic. But I stopped myself because I keep realizing that it has only just been a little longer than a couple of weeks. These past few weeks have been heavy. They've been triggering. They've been deeply saddening, and they have reminded us once again, just in case we have forgotten that the black body in this country is the supreme subject of racial oppression and inequity. I guess you could argue, although that all of this anger, this fury, this determination that we have seen on the streets was not born just a week ago though. It was not born just a couple of weeks ago. It was not born a month ago. This movement, I suppose, has been brewing and bubbling for much longer than a week. In fact, about 400 years longer than a couple of weeks. So perhaps my soul is justified in feeling an ache that spans many, many generations before mine. Last week, or a few weeks ago, the recent murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Tony McDade and Ahmad Arbery served as a catalyst for real change and empower people of all ethnicities to stand up. There was a collective fury over a deeply oppressive system that punishes people in every facet of society for their race. The show of solidarity was epic. My mother, who grew up in the 70s, was in awe over the number of non-black people she saw standing as allies online and on the streets of the world to the black community last week. But as the days move forward, it became increasingly obvious on social media like Twitter and Instagram and Facebook that for many young people, like some of us here today, the movement was nothing more than a trend, nothing more than a petition to sign, and nothing more than another post. And that, to be honest to me, is almost as sickening as the system itself. So as a black leader in the Ford School and at our university, I am taking this time to urge my friends and colleagues to not let this one be a trend. For one moment in time, can we just release the vanity and desire for aesthetics? Nothing has changed. One week does not solve 400 years of crisis and chaos. Your solidarity and allyship should not start and end with a post on Instagram. It looks like those uncomfortable dialogues with your racist and prejudice loved ones. It means abandoning your privilege or utilizing it to protect your non-white neighbors and friends. It looks like questioning the system that you solely have benefited from since this country's inception. It means helping to hold institutions like the University of Michigan and the Ford School accountable for making spaces for black students and students of color. And it looks like continuing the conversation on social media and online with the world. The power we yield on the digital landscape is incredible. Last week, within five days, I, for example, crowdfunded $22,000 to donate to the Bell Project with almost all of the donations coming from college students. Most of the protests, if not all, were organized online in group chats on Instagram stories and over text message. Our capacity to mobilize as young people can and should be used for good. So don't let the conversation die. Let us be on the right side of history and show the world what it looks like when we mean business. This is a call to action. It is crucial that we, as leaders and as members of this society, do not remain silent just as Dean Bar said and many, many, many activists before him and I. Thank you. Hello everyone. My name is Tanya Molo, and I'm the president of Ipsa. Amad Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd. I should not be saying your names aloud tonight. Breonna, you should have celebrated your 27th birthday last week. Amad, you should be at home enjoying your last summer before going to South Georgia Technical College this fall. And George, you should be holding your daughter Gianna. Instead, we are grieving. We are grieving because you are another painful addition to a long list of Black lives lost to systemic racism, police brutality, and white supremacy in the United States. I am here because I am in pain. As the body count continues to grow, I fear becoming numb to my pain. I'm scared the next body we bury will be someone I know. This atmosphere of continued racial trauma that we're forced to live in must end. The murders of Amad, Breonna, Tony, and George are not accidental. They result from an intentionally racist legal system that deems Black life, my life unequal. To be Black in this world is to know your body is not your own. Still, it was your body on which the foundation of our country was built. Anti-Black ideologies, including white supremacy, propagated in colonialism and imperialism by liberal democracies, profit from the continuous subjugation, destruction, and death of Black bodies, voices, and lives. Despite the perception of progress based on liberal legislation, the current social and political structures in the United States and internationally continue to perpetuate these longstanding racist systems. Policies and laws do not automatically change the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors of the oppressors, nor do they instigate transformative social change. To achieve change, the beneficiaries and perpetrators of these systems must be held accountable for their actions. As policy students and professionals, we need to question how we, too, are beneficiaries of and complicit in these systems. Our work must contribute to transformative social change and equality. We, as a policy school, have to be more socially responsible. We have an obligation to honor the lives of Armad, Brianna, Tony, George, and all the countless Black lives taken too soon by systemic racial violence. I ask you to join me, truly stand in solidarity with Black lives by continuing this fight beyond today, tomorrow, or next week. This means continuously challenging our ideologies by deconstructing the narrative we have inherited on race, slavery, and class. Black liberation will occur when those who wield racist power cease to believe in superior and inferior races and are made to understand that we are all equally human. We need social justice through transformational change. Gianna, George Floyd's daughter, recently shared that she is proud because she believes her daddy changed the world. You and I, we owe it to her and to all the families who have lost loved ones to police brutality and racial terror to ensure that their lives do change the world. To choose to remain neutral is to choose complicity with white supremacy. Thank you. Thank you for those inspiring and powerful words. So in memory of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmad Aubrey, and in solidarity with their families, their loved ones, and the Black community, we invite everyone to participate in a collective silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds. And if you're comfortable, again, we invite everyone to leave your videos on. Thank you for participating in that moment of silence. At this time, I'd like to invite everyone to turn your thoughts and reflections into messages of support, of care and concern, and also brief that will be shared with the families and with those in our community after today. So at the end of the allotted time for writing your messages, a black screen will appear and it will be accompanied by a song to close today's commemoration. So as Beltazar, Sidney, and Tanya indicated, it's really important that we find ways to engage around these issues. And for those who may be wondering what you can do again to engage. It's important to remember that this is more than a hashtag. It's more than a summer trend that will eventually fade away. This is a lived experience for some. This is a very complex and layered problem with a long history. And there are no easy answers. And engaging with it will involve a fair share of discomfort. Frederick Douglass said, if there is no struggle, there is no progress. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. So to that end, we invite you to lend your voice and constructive feedback to Ford School leadership, to the DNI coalition, and also to Ford School student organizations to help shape initiatives and programs moving forward, which some of you have already begun doing. So thank you. And on a personal level, we invite you to listen and learn and deepen your awareness and understanding around anti-racism, around activism and allyship. So thank you for joining us today. This concludes today's events.