Black Lives Matter

Full Text

We are in an historical battle in this country for our soul as a nation and our very existence is at stake.  We were loaded into boats, chained together as cattle and auction as slabs of meat. We were murdered as the purchase price for our land. We were herded like cattle and driven across the country to remove the stain of our presence.

And we have survived. We have endured.

Our free, forced, and cheap labor built this country. We were reduced to scraping through as inhabitants of a second-class world. We were incorporated into an ideological system that institutionalized the view of our lives as having less value.

And we have survived. We have endured.

We have been murdered in the streets, locked in prisons, loaded into detention centers as a reminder that we do not belong; that we are only visitors in a white society.

And we have survived. We have endured.

Our culture. Our heritage and our identity have been diminished and stripped from us. We have been confined to the smallest and most desperate corners of this country, but still we persist. We fight. We have remained strong and continue to grow stronger every day.

We have survived. We have endured.

Today we fight to save this country from its past, present, and future sins. It will not be old white men in red caps nor young white men with shaved heads who will save this country.

It will be the Black community and the women, men and children who today are in the streets marching, educating, and challenging.

It will be the immigrants and their children who continue to contribute and transform our world. It will be the People of Color who are teachers, mechanics, doctors, lawyers, street cleaners and service workers who have always been essential workers. It will be our White allies who are willing and determined to reject the privilege of the past. Together we are determined to strike a death blow to the ideology and practice of White Supremacy and White Racism.

We have survived. We have endured.

The murders of George Floyd continue the pattern of Black people murdered by police carrying out the institutional policy of police forces since the beginning of this country. The recent killings of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Tony McDade reflect the continued practice that dates back centuries. As People of Color we are all aware of the danger of being stopped by the police at the wrong time and in the wrong place. For the Chicano community in Denver, we will always remember the police killings of Ismael Mena, Luis Jr. Martinez, Ruben Salazar, and Louie Pineda.

We have survived. We have endured.

This disfunction caused by the trauma of this country’s past grievances against people of color still exists in poverty, marginalization, violence and displacement. This present condition has been a long time coming and has been exacerbated by the leadership of this country in recent years.  

We will fight for this country because we have invested so deeply in it. Our labor, our land, our culture, our  spirit has been an instinsic part its traditions in the past, and will be a greater force in the future.

We have survived. We have endured.

Su Teatro is an organization built on the foundation of social justice. It has been our legacy as decendents of the Chicano Movement to create art and experiences that challenge a system built not only to exclude but to oppress. We commit ourselves to Liberation and Enlightenment of all our communities. We offer our nearly 50 years of practice to continue our work. We pledge to continue the work when the debris clears; when the passion wanes and when this moment is a memory, we will carry forward the passion and memory of our cause.

Through our work on the stage, in the classrooms and in our lives, we will continue to study and deconstruct, and unravel deeply imbedded white supremacy practice and ideology that has been instituted within our country and our communities.

We join our Black Sisters and Brothers in solidarity towards a common cause. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. We call for the end of the Police Killings and we dedicate ourselves to saving this country from itself. We have built it, we bled for it and we have died for it and now we must save it. 

We have survived. We have endured.

We shall endure.