Public Release Statement 
by Diversity Council Staff 

Our country’s preoccupation with guns has been on full display in recent weeks, reasserting the truths that 1) gun violence in our country is epidemic in nature, 2) the incidence of gun violence continues to accelerate, 3) racial and ethnic minority populations are disproportionately impacted, and 4) that we, as a society, remain inexplicably inert.  

We wish to specifically address two aspects of gun violence that are negatively impacting health equity in our response to the most recent events. The first is that violence done to young Black men and other men of color, occurring at the hands of law enforcement at an alarming rate and exploding across neighborhoods and communities, is beyond critical. Secondly, incidents of mass murder by firearms meant for warfare, which are occurring regularly in public spaces, impact everyone across all settings and in all geographic locales, from urban to suburban, to small town, to rural.   

On the first point, we witnessed an escalated form of violence perpetrated by law enforcement in the killing of Jayland Walker in Akron Ohio. This was a lynching. It was an act outside of legal parameters that were, by its very nature, meant to terrify and subjugate people, especially Black men. Writers of the PBS special Lynching in America note that “the central purpose of lynching, an act of terror meant to spread fear among [African Americans], served the broad social purpose of maintaining white supremacy in the economic, social and political spheres.” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/emmett-lynching-america/  

Encyclopedia Britannica defines lynching as “a form of violence in which a mob, under the pretext of administering justice without trial, executes a presumed offender, often after inflicting torture and corporal mutilation.” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/lynching)  

Applying these definitions to the killing of Jayland Walker, we assert that eight armed men bent on violence against a brown body is a mob. Jayland, who was no more than a presumed offender, saw a field of law enforcement amassing behind him and fled for his life. Piercing a human body with 60 rounds of gunfire is corporal mutilation (mutilation of the body). All are INDEFENSIBLE, beyond legal and humane parameters, and the result of unchecked racially motivated hostility and systemic racism. Law enforcement must do better. 

On the second point, we have allowed, as a culture, the infiltration of firearms into our everyday lives. We have normalized gun violence and it has overtaken our common sense. We suffer from societal inertia. We do not know how to respond, or who should respond. While vicarious traumatization – the emotional residue of viewing and absorbing traumatic incidents – is unifying, it disorients and keeps society undecided about collective action. As a result, we approach the issue of gun violence by looking for reasons where none exist and justification where none can be found.  

This brings us to the final truth that we must acknowledge. There is no justification. None for the execution of people, disproportionately men of color, by law enforcement. None for the persistent radicalization and over-arming of our citizens.  

This week marks six years since Minnesotans watched in horror as Philando Castile was killed by police after disclosing he was carrying a permitted weapon. We grieved and raged in response. One month ago, Ohio became the 25th state to allow the carry of a concealed weapon without a permit, and the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot limit the rights of citizens to carry firearms for self-defense. We edge closer to the abyss. 

We must change our individual and collective response. Resources below to help you move forward.  

Listen, Learn, and Act. 

Diversity Council’s purpose is to grow equitable communities rooted in compassion where all facets of human identity are understood and respected, and where every individual acts conscientiously and with courage.