June 3, 2020

Dear Members of the SPSA Community,

We write today to express our condemnation of institutional racism and social injustice that we see in United States and to stand with our colleagues and students, particularly those of color, who fight against inequality in society. We must do better at recognizing racial injustice, educating others about it, and standing up to it in order to change factors in society that perpetuate it.

The SPSA in a non-partisan organization that, typically, does not issue positions on public policy. However it does speak out on issues that affect its membership and the central missions of the Association which include teaching, scholarship, and communication and respect among scholars. Racism and injustice in society inhibit all of these. Thus we must speak out against systemic racism, and its history of violence and oppression most recently seen in the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. Tragically, these unjustifiable killings are only the most recent evidence of a much broader and insidious problem that we must combat as scholars and human beings. We recognize the profound negative impact that police brutality and racial biases in policing have had on black and minority communities and we offer our compassion and support in the efforts to create change. The SPSA encourages and supports efforts to reduce racial bias, injustice, and inequality in all its forms, through teaching, scholarship, engagement, and in the practice of politics. Political scientists have a long history of studying issues of institutional and systemic racism, power relationships, governance, human rights, and social injustice. We have a responsibility as scholars to speak out from our place of knowledge on the issues that so profoundly affect our students and colleagues.

Cherie Maestas, President
Jeff Gill, Past President
Chris Wlezien, President-Elect
Robert Howard, Executive Director