AnonymousSource: SURJ
Showing Up for Racial Justice Santa Barbara stands in solidarity with organizers and protestors in
Louisville and across the country in their expressed outrage and actions in response to the verdict
resulting in no charges against the officers who murdered Breonna Taylor in her own home on
March 13, 2020. We echo the chants of our brothers and sisters in this movement who have been
explaining for decades, “No justice, no peace.” This refrain means that until there is
acknowledgement of the white supremacy ideology that poisons our criminal, legal, and justice
systems, until there is accountability for chronic abuse of power by police officers, and until there
is reform and defunding that addresses the devaluation and dehumanization of black lives at the
hands of the police, there will be no peace in our country.
Peace is not a reasonable expectation when racism continues to be a public health threat to our
black and brown community members and nothing is done about it. Peace is not a reasonable
expectation when the very people paid to protect and serve instead abuse their power, recklessly
endanger others, and commit murder with impunity. Peace is not a reasonable expectation when
America continues to fund a system of terror strategically directed at communities of color: a
system that originated for the sole purpose of terrorizing enslaved black people.
As always, we unquestioningly support and echo the wishes, demands, and voices of our black
community members and organizers, particularly Healing Justice Santa Barbara.
We recognize that the ideology of white supremacy against which we are fighting is deeply
entrenched and pervasive, and any expectation to dismantle it requires commitment, work, and
persistence. The battle against racism and racial injustice will not be won with temporary reactions
that subside once the news cycle shifts, and so we ask the following long-term commitments from
our Santa Barbara Community:
We ask that our white community members match their outrage with action. You must get
involved, particularly if you have white racial privilege which affords you unearned credibility,
safety, and power. Our black community members and organizers in Santa Barbara are working
tirelessly to demand improvements in safety and accountability from our city and local police, and
they are getting routinely silenced, ignored, and devalued by both the Santa Barbara City Council
and the Santa Barbara Police Department. We ask that you not only support their work but also
do your share. Go to sbsurj.weebly.com to get involved.
We ask that all of our community members become informed about and support The BREATHE
Act. Learn more at breatheact.org.
Finally, we ask our white community members to listen to and believe the voices and experiences
of black people, to refrain from thinking they understand, and to cease telling black people how to
feel, protest, or mourn. We ask you to instead join us in solidarity to support, honor, and echo the
voices of black Americans here in Santa Barbara and across the nation as we demand justice.
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national network of groups and individuals working to undermine
white supremacy and to work toward racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education,
SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.
SURJ SB is the Santa Barbara Chapter of SURJ National.
