Dear EAP community,
As a program of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the Energy Analysis and Policy (EAP) Certificate leadership adds its voice to Dean Robbins’ condemnation of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAttee, and many more Black and Brown people at the hands of law enforcement. We believe that Black lives matter. We also acknowledge that police brutality is only one manifestation of institutionalized racism and white supremacy. The unequal distribution of the economic and environmental impacts of the energy sector that focuses our EAP work is another.
Furthermore, EAP’s leadership affirms our support for the protestors and their struggle to end centuries of oppression. We will never fully grasp the emotional burden our Black and Brown peers carry living under crushing inequity and threat of violence, but can hopefully empathize with them.
We take seriously our responsibility in confronting white supremacy everywhere, including within the EAP program. We are evaluating ways to incorporate anti-racism into our core curriculum and event programming, which are the primary ways we engage with our community. As individuals, we have committed to continuous learning and anti-racist action. We encourage everyone in our EAP community to both learn and act. Among the countless resources circulating recently, here are a few that have helped us learn:
- Equal Justice Initiative: Get Involved
- Nehemiah–Justified Anger: Responding To Injustice – A message for our Non-Black Allies that want to Join the Struggle
- New York Times: Read Up on the Links Between Racism and the Environment
- Medium: 75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice
If you find that our EAP community is not a safe and supportive environment for you, please reach out to us to share your experience so that we can make specific changes.
Take care,
The EAP Executive Committee and Staff