If you don’t know, now you know 💫
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I’m a college graduate now. I can’t really put into words what New Paltz means to me, at least not without it taking too long. What I can tell you is that it truly is what you make it in your time there. Find your reason and nurture it. Grow it and thrive with its realization. You have to keep going, because what better time than now?
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See ya, Newpz. Thank you for the people. The Minds. The Artists. The Family. The Life, and the Love. The Experience. Thanks for the memories. 🔶🔷
@sunynewpaltz
BLACK LIVES MATTER
The Black Lives Matter Movement strives for equality of all races and the end of systemic and systematic racism. As stated by the Black Lives Matter Foundation themselves, they are “a global organization...whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.”
The #BlackLivesMatter that we know today first began in 2013, in response to the acquittal of the murderer of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old boy who was fatally shot after leaving a store in Florida one night in February of 2012. This blatant act of injustice was the tipping point, leading to massive outrage and protest across the United States.
These protests were not only in response to the unfortunate and untimely death of a young boy but the generations and generations of feelings of contempt, suffering, and discrimation across the Black community. And now, for just over 7 years, BLM has grown incredibly in numbers, exposure, and support, and marked the beginning of the New Civil Rights Movement.
The dates February 23rd, March 13th, and May 25th, 2020, are the dates of the heartbreaking ends of three beautiful lives, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. Their untimely deaths were done under discriminatory, violent, and racist pretenses. These dates marked the end of being quiet for countless people around the world.
Since late Spring 2020, there have been protests daily across the world in response to the continued injustice against Black and Brown people. BLM and the New Civil Rights Movement are striving for a new way of life for the generations of tomorrow. A fight to be not just Non-Racist, but to also be actively Anti-Racist. In the words of the President of our university, “Only together can we activate changes now and move toward long-term and sustained changes that help us realize the potential of our campus now and into the future. We stand for you; we stand with you.” -Donald P. Christian.
This is a fight for freedom.
This is a fight for equality.
This is a fight for justice.
This is a fight for peace.
Peace and Love,
Nathan Benitez
