On June 3, 2020, the Black Landscape Architects Network, posted the following statement in response to the protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis:
In the shadow of the racialized murder of George Floyd and the history of violence against black communities in America, the Black Landscape Architects Network (BlackLAN) stands in solidarity with the protests against such killings and associated acts of terrorism. As black design professionals working within public and community realms, we are keenly aware of the need for our presence as stewards of equity and equality.
This racialized shadow has long been present in American communities, places, and practices. It has been 100 years since the Red Summer of 1919, when black people were attacked and murdered across the United States. Two years later, the prosperous black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma—sometimes known as the “Black Wall Street”— was attacked by a white mob. The legacy of the death and property destruction is still being addressed today. Within this 100-year timeframe, there have been countless other acts of hate and violence against black people and their communities. These events all speak to a need for our nation and our profession to truthfully reconcile the legacy of systemic racism and violence rooted in landscapes of institutional slavery. The continued refusal to reconcile this legacy does not pay respect to the role black people played in creating American landscapes.
We are committed to fighting these transgressions and omissions through cultural, historical, and social practices. We embrace cultural research that reveals the history of black people living in and building the American landscape. The BlackLAN values working as a collective to bring voice to the importance of black landscape architects in American society.
