Dear Middlebury Community,
February is Black History Month. As events of the past year have demonstrated, it is as crucial as ever that we face up to and address our nation’s racial past. Last winter brought calls for reflection about our history and how we include the stories of enslaved peoples. Summer saw the national reckoning on race and violence against Black people. Fall and winter were a time of political debate in which we elected the first Black woman as our vice president and the first Black senator from Georgia. And last month, we witnessed a violent insurrection at the Capitol Building that brought back painful, hateful symbols of the oppression of Black people.