The Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section (CBSM) of the American Sociological Association joins academic communities across the country in expressing outrage at the murder of George Floyd and countless other Black, Brown, and Indigenous people who have lost their lives as a result of systemically racist policing in the United States. As sociologists, researcher-activists, educators, and community members, we join those around the nation in bearing witness to the racial injustices that have led to this moment. The CBSM recognizes the recent uprisings as expressions of deep-seated pain, anger, and frustration on behalf of those whose lives have been harmed, and often shortened, through systemic racism.

As social movement scholars, we are indebted to generations of activists, many of whom participated in antiracist movements like Black Lives Matter. We proudly stand with BLM organizers and activists as they push for an end to systemic racism through substantive reforms in policing and other institutions that disproportionately harm communities of color. We view these uprisings are the natural result of centuries of anti-Black violence, systemic oppression, and marginalization in the dominant institutions of our society.

In the spirit of Black Lives Matter and in partial fulfillment of our continuing debt to social justice movements, the CBSM commits to taking significant actions within our domain to substantively improve the lives of Black people. We are interested in more than symbolism and lip service.

To that end, the CBSM pledges to: 1) create and provide a syllabus of social movement scholarship produced by Black scholars so that coming generations of scholars can understand their contributions. This syllabus will be added to as Black scholars continue to theorize and produce work in this area. This action is a step toward expanding the canon of social movement scholarship to include more works by people of color, especially Black people; 2) develop awards that recognize the contributions of Black scholars to the study of social movements; 3) develop means to raise the profiles of Black graduate students and junior faculty of color so that their contributions to social movement scholarship gain deserved recognition; 4) increase our media presence to add academic support to the struggle to protect Black lives.

We encourage those with additional ideas for how CBSM can support Black lives to share them with CBSM’s diversity committee.

In Solidarity,

CBSM Diversity Committee

Signatories:

• Glenn E. Bracey II, Villanova University
• Daisy Verduzco Reyes, University of California Merced
• Hajar Yazdiha, University of Southern California
• Edelina M. Burciaga, University of Colorado Denver