Dear SSW Community
This week has been tough for so many of us. The impact of the Orlando shooting sits heavy on me personally and in watching the pain that so many of you are holding. One year ago today we were reeling and supporting each other after learning of the massacre of nine individuals at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. As a community we have commemorated the victims of these violent acts of hatred in vigils and in our prayers.
As I end my week having had meetings with students and staff hearing the ways that racism, homophobia, transphobia, and Islamophobia has shaped our experiences and lives out in the world and on our campus, I am angry. I am furious with the toll that hate and intolerance takes on us. I am frustrated with all the time that you and I have spent crying and hurting because of acts of violence perpetrated against the communities from which we come and that we serve. While we will continue to grieve and find support, we must not just talk, we must act.
As we enter the weekend and face a new week, I am asking that we as a school community make a commitment to move to action. Let’s find ways that we as a community can speak up and speak out, work proactively, and connect into projects, initiatives, or efforts to work toward solutions. Let’s do it together so that all of our communities are included and none are left behind.
Over the next weeks, I’ll be looking for ways that we can generate ideas and find our path to action. As painfully as this week began, let it end with hope for the ways that we will contribute to the solution.
In peace and love,
Marianne
Marianne RM Yoshioka, PhD, MSW
Dean and Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft Professor
Smith College School for Social Work
