The recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Breonna Taylor have highlighted the systemic racism and inequality that continues in the US against Black Americans and other communities of color. As political scientists, our scholarship has explored race, power, institutions, and oppression and there is much work still needed to be done with regards to policing, racial profiling, and equal treatment under the law.  The New York State Political Science Association is focused on creating opportunities for discussion, analysis, and evaluation, and supporting research that leads to solutions that address racial inequality.

We echo the American Political Science Association’s statement that: “political scientists have long examined the linkages between race, power, governance, social injustice and oppression. This scholarship has made an invaluable contribution to our discipline and to public discourse. It has illuminated the sources and structures of pervasive and inequality and human rights abuses in the United States, as well as the resulting social, political, and public policy consequences.” 

The New York State Political Science Association supports citizens’ rights to exercise their freedoms of speech and assembly. Peaceful protests, as FBI Director Christopher Wray recently noted, are a sign of a healthy democracy, not an ailing one. As New Yorkers, we take pride in our diversity and strongly condemn any actions that adversely affect our neighbors, friends, and colleagues.