Hoos Connected is about bringing students together—to learn from one another and create meaningful relationships; to celebrate the rich diversity of lived experiences represented in the student body; and to build a truly inclusive community. But we must acknowledge the broader context from which we start this work. 

After months of Covid-19 highlighting and exacerbating racial inequities in the US, recent weeks have made brutal acts of violence against Black Americans starkly visible – including those against George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery – acts which are no doubt just the most visible edge of a broad pattern often unseen or ignored except by those affected. These deaths are just one tragic manifestation of systemic racism that permeates every aspect of our country and our community. These systems have their origin in the very birth of our nation, which employed slavery to exploit Black bodies for the profit of White men. They have been carefully tended to across centuries in order to maintain a power structure that harms Black Americans; the resultant inequities can be seen in our education and legal systems, housing, income, physical and mental health, and so on and so forth. 

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