Addressing Systemic Racism and Injustice

June 3, 2020, Modified on October 28, 2020

Purdue CAPS honors the profound grief centered with the historical and continued violence toward Black lives and specifically the recent violent deaths of Walter Wallace Jr., Daniel Prude, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others. We care about and stand with our Black students, faculty, and staff, and we oppose systemic racism, prejudice, injustice, and inequity.

Purdue CAPS recognizes how continued systemic racism, prejudice, injustice, and inequity negatively affect individual and social mental health and wellbeing. The persistence of systemic racism and injustice may illicit feelings of grief, sadness, anger, confusion, and stress. We want to support our students as they process the trauma and grief that may arise from these and other events. We are here as allies and as a resource to validate, empathize with, and help process these painful experiences and feelings in a healthy ways.

Purdue CAPS acknowledges the need for continued advocacy of compassion and justice for our Black and marginalized community members. As a counseling center, we are committed to doing our best to cultivate multicultural perspectives and conversations about how these events may impact members of our campus community. Please see our links below for additional online resources that may support student, faculty, and staff during this difficult time.

Mental Health and Educational Resources:

• BEAM Common Coping Strategies
• BEAM Healing & Accountability Wheel
• Discrimination: What it is and how to cope
• NAMI African American Mental Health
• Boston College: Racial Trauma Toolkit
• Black Lives Matter: Meditations
• Radical Self-Care in the Face of Mounting Racial Stress

 Purdue Campus Resources:

• Purdue Black Cultural Center
• Purdue Office of Institutional Equity
• Purdue Office of the Dean of Students (ODOS)
• Purdue Division of Diversity and Inclusion
• Reporting Bias
• Purdue Asian American and Asian Resource and Cultural Center (AAARC)
• Purdue Latinx Cultural Center (LCC)
• Purdue Native American Educational and Cultural Center (NAECC)
• Purdue LGBTQ Center
• Purdue Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

Community Resources:

• NAACP
• The Audre Lorde Project
• The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights