In light of the recent acts of police brutality and other forms of violence against Black people, including the acts seen at protests around the United States, the film team behind “Silence Sam” has decided to temporarily release this film to YouTube.
Made by students at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill’s School of Media & Journalism, Silence Sam details the university administrators’ efforts to silence student activism during the most recent student-led movement to remove Confederate monument, “Silent Sam” from campus. We hope those who watch this film take action against their own institutions’ efforts to quell protest for Black Lives in their own communities.
As alumni of this university, we cannot accept UNC-Chapel Hill’s solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives on social media when it has not yet repaired the physiological and psychological damage done to student activists advocating for Black lives on campus.
There is no real solidarity when the university continues to uphold the systems of white supremacy on which it was founded.We stand in solidarity with students’ calls to defund UNC-Chapel Hill police and with community calls to defund police in Greensboro, Raleigh, and Durham.We stand in solidarity with all calls to remove Confederate monuments – in Wilmington and Raleigh, NC; in Mobile, Alabama, among others – whose purpose now if ever is only as a lasting cry to white supremacy.
#Blacklivesmatter. Black lives should always matter. Take action to make sure they always do.
Lillian Grace Mercho 