This is Where We Stand

Dear Readers,

The murder of George Floyd by a white policeman on May 25 exposed once more and in shocking fashion the systemic and systematized racism that has been part of the American story for over 400 years and that has been emboldened during the Trump era. While we don’t think it is our role to proffer any interpretation of this crime and its repercussions, all of us at Europa Editions do feel that we should be using our platform, however small it may be, to express our indignation at Floyd’s murder and our solidarity with people of color and those who are in these days protesting police brutality and institutionalized racism. Silence is complicity, and we cannot be complicit in a system that denies dignity and life to our fellow human beings, persecuting, punishing, and killing them because of the color of their skin.

Toni Morrison wrote that the human project is “to remain human and to block the dehumanization and estrangement of others.” At Europa, we are committed to this project, precisely as it is expressed by Morrison; it underpins the decisions we make regarding what books we publish and how we publish them. At times like this, however, it is painfully clear that there is much more that we can and should be doing. 

Europa’s commitment to our authors and their work abides, but we are also a group of individuals, and, at this time, we feel the need to raise our voices and use our platform to do more than draw attention to the books we publish. It is in this spirit, therefore, that we write today not to talk of books but to express our anger over the killing of George Floyd, our outrage at the long, persistent, craven history of racism of which Floyd’s death is only one recent example, and our solidarity with those whose anger is so implacable that protest is its only outlet.

Sincerely yours,
Europa Editions

A FEW RESOURCES

Donate to The Bail Project

Donate to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Read Anti-Racist Books (courtesy of Loyalty Bookstore)

Read more Anti-Racist Books (list by Brain Lair Books)