Our official statement of support of the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-racist resources
June 2020
To Our Community,
Princeton Summer Theater stands with everyone fighting for racial justice: the protesters doing the brave and sadly necessary work on the front lines this week and all of the activists who have been leading this battle for years.
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Nina Pop and too many others are not isolated incidents. They are part of the horrific and continuing legacy of state-sanctioned violence against black bodies. Black Lives Matter. The United States has failed to recognize this for its entire existence as a country.
Princeton (both the University and the town) has been and continues to be complicit in this violence and injustice. Its history is interwoven with the institution of slavery and the ongoing legacy of racism—read more at The Princeton and Slavery Project website. Princeton Summer Theater is far from exempt from this legacy.
Theater should be an inclusive, healing, and safe space for all, lifting up Black and POC voices on and offstage. This too often is not the case. The American Theater has a history of disenfranchising Black and POC folks. Princeton Summer Theater is no exception: We have fallen short of being an anti-racist organization. As people who love theatre and love this organization, we have a responsibility to do better. We must make a plan to uplift Black theater-makers and stories, and to support broader anti-racist work.
We urge you to join this effort in all the following ways:
Donate.
For years, we have been grateful for the generosity exhibited by our audiences. We ask you now to turn that same generosity towards organizations fighting for racial justice. If you have the means, please consider donating to one or more of these groups:
National Bail Out — #FreeBlackMamas
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Communities United Against Police Brutality
Official George Floyd Memorial Fund
The Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund
Justice for Breonna Taylor Petition and Fundraiser
The Solutions not Punishment Collaborative
This is not a comprehensive list, but just a few of the many important organizations working for racial justice.
Commit to an anti-racist education.
We particularly urge the non-black members of our community to join us in the necessary, ongoing learning process. There are a huge number of resources for this. A couple places to begin are this list of anti-racism resources and this anti-racist reading list (compiled by two Princeton students, Lauren Johnson ’21 and Ashley Hodges ’21).
Engage.
This document, created by the The Carl Fields Center, LGBT Center and Women*s Center at Princeton University, is a guide for taking action for those who want to aid in this fight but aren’t sure where to begin.
Let’s build a better world.
In Solidarity,
Princeton Summer Theater