There's a growing cultural shift in the wake of nationwide protests.

Quaker Oats is pulling the "Aunt Jemima" brand, which they say is rooted in in a racial stereotype.

The University of Virginia is changing its logo, which has symbols linked to slavery.

Last week, HBO Max removed "Gone With The Wind" over racist depictions.

Here in Maryland a similar debate is underway. There are new demands for name changes at some long-standing institutions in our area.

At Towson University a committee has just been formed to look into renaming two dorms that are named after prominent Maryland slave owners.

Just down the road from the university sits Loyola Blakefield high school and there's a petition to change that school's name name.

Calls to remove statutes, rename buildings, military bases and institutions with historical ties to racism and slavery are being heard around the United States.

"There is an ongoing debate around this issue and it’s a debate right? Not everyone agrees," says associate professor of sociology Dr. Loren Henderson with the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

"If people actually look at the history of when these schools were named, when these monuments were put up, when army bases were named, a lot of them came during the civil rights movement as a response to desegregation, as a response to racial equity being pursued during the civil rights movement," says Dr. Rashawn Ray, a professor of sociology with the University of Maryland College Park.

More than 460 people support the petition "Rename Loyola's campus. Remove the Blakefield name."

It was started by an alum who writes that the Blake family, when donating money to buy the land where the school is in Towson, directed that "no colored boys be admitted."

In a statement the school's president Anthony Day says:

"We are aware of this allegation and are working closely with our alumni and board of trustees to determine what basis - if any - there is for considering a change of name. This includes rigorous research to discern the veracity of the claim expressed in the petition.

In the meantime, it’s important to make clear that Loyola Blakefield has an unqualified commitment to addressing the tragic and unacceptable prevalence of racism in any and every form - however subtle or blatant.

We are committed to assessing both our legacy and current culture and practices to determine what changes need to be made and what measurable initiatives must be implemented to ensure that all who are entrusted to us for their education understand the painful reality of racial injustice and, importantly, their potential to make a discernible difference.”

We pledge our relentless commitment to ensuring that all who enter and depart our doors come to embrace their obligation to be true change agents in helping create communities in which all have equal advantage in pursuing their full, unmitigated potential."

Also in Baltimore County is the McDonogh School, which is named after John McDonogh, a Baltimore born businessman, plantation and slave owner who lived in New Orleans.

Following the statue of McDonogh being toppled and thrown in the Mississippi River, the school sent this statement on behalf of the head of school, David J. Farace:

"Shamefully and regrettably, slavery is part of our school’s history. John McDonogh, whose estate led to the creation of McDonogh School in 1873, built his wealth using slave labor. Today, McDonogh is committed to being a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community, and in honoring this commitment, we must continue to acknowledge, confront, and denounce the evils of racism that contributed to our school’s founding, and that tragically and systemically still exist in our country."

"Names matter," says Dr. Ray. "And when people look up the names of these schools, these monuments, these military bases. What they see is that they are people who led the Confederacy or who wanted black people to remain enslaved. That’s the simple of it."

"Addressing this renaming, pulling down statues, things like that at the institutional level recognizes this current connection of slavery for African-Americans today," says Dr. Henderson. "Another part of the debate is many claim it ignores U.S. history and U.S. history is complex. From a sociological perspective, we’d want to look at those debates and that would lead to the answers of whether we want to change our culture. That I think is the biggest question."

The members of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health at UMBC stand in solidarity with those who are grieving the loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Freddie Gray, and the too-long list of African Americans who have been killed by the police. We grieve the countless lives that have been cut short and minimized by structural racism and white supremacy. The incidents surrounding these recent murders and the disproportionate impact of the current pandemic on people of color highlight the violence, racism, and inequality that are entrenched in this society.

We stand with those harmed: they are our sisters, our brothers, our mothers, our fathers, our husbands, our wives, our sons, our daughters, our friends, our lovers, our teachers, our colleagues, our students, and people we have never met. To be silent as they are taken from us would support the violence and the systems of which it is part. We cannot and will not be silent.

We recommit ourselves to developing and sharing the intellectual and methodological tools needed to dismantle systems of inequality, to finding new ways to support each other, and to helping create the kind of change we want to see. We recommit ourselves to doing this in our classrooms through improved, compassionate, critical pedagogy (c.f. Freire 1970) and in our research as we engage with partners in disenfranchised communities here and around the world. We commit ourselves to working with students, colleagues, and community members to apply social science methods and results to address these pressing social problems.

We are also committed to supporting organizations that work for social justice in our personal lives. Together, we are making a donation to the Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT), which “provides legal support to Baltimore communities as they exercise their civil liberties protesting against injustices rooted in structural racism and economic inequality” (https://www.baltimoreactionlegal.org/), one of the many organizations working to make a difference in our community. And, as individuals, we are supporting other organizations that work for social justice as well.

If you, too, are looking for ways to make a difference, seek out local organizations that have been involved in this struggle for a long time and see how you can help. Utilize opportunities to enrich and grow your educational and lived experience. Learn and listen and read about white privilege and white supremacy, alternatives to policing, and #citeblackwomen. Explore models for how to create social change and engage in productive conversations with people who are different from you. Seek out Black-owned businesses to patronize. Support each other, and take care of yourself. And please reach out to us if there is anything you want to talk about or any way we can support you.

We stand together in this fight against injustice.

Marina Adler

Anushka Aqil

Katie Birger    

Emily Byrne   

Jennifer Callaghan-Koru

Bambi Chapin            

Sarah Chard              

   Meryl Cozart              

Kevin Eckert       

Kate Hemmis            

Loren Henderson                   

Aubrey Jackson Soller           

Andrea Kalfoglou       

Camee Maddox-Wingfield     

Christine Mair

Dann Malihom

Julie Rosenthal          

John Schumacher     

Dena Smith

Brian Soller                

Jamie Trevitt                

Brandy Wallace         

Nick Welcome

Michele Wolff 

Takashi Yamashita

**To see what others in our UMBC community are saying about this, see UMBC Dr. Kimberly Moffitt, “For Black Mothers” (https://www.wypr.org/post/moffitt-black-mothers), as well as UMBC’s message supporting USM’s Statement on Injustice (https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/insights/posts/93513), which includes links to campus resources.

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY

The members of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health at UMBC stand in solidarity with those who are grieving the loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Freddie Gray, and the too-long list of African Americans who have been killed by the police. We grieve the countless lives that have been cut short and minimized by structural racism and white supremacy. The incidents surrounding these recent murders and the disproportionate impact of the current pandemic on people of color highlight the violence, racism, and inequality that are entrenched in this society.

We stand with those harmed: they are our sisters, our brothers, our mothers, our fathers, our husbands, our wives, our sons, our daughters, our friends, our lovers, our teachers, our colleagues, our students, and people we have never met. To be silent as they are taken from us would support the violence and the systems of which it is part. We cannot and will not be silent.

We recommit ourselves to developing and sharing the intellectual and methodological tools needed to dismantle systems of inequality, to finding new ways to support each other, and to helping create the kind of change we want to see. We recommit ourselves to doing this in our classrooms through improved, compassionate, critical pedagogy (c.f. Freire 1970) and in our research as we engage with partners in disenfranchised communities here and around the world. We commit ourselves to working with students, colleagues, and community members to apply social science methods and results to address these pressing social problems.

We are also committed to supporting organizations that work for social justice in our personal lives. Together, we are making a donation to the Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT), which “provides legal support to Baltimore communities as they exercise their civil liberties protesting against injustices rooted in structural racism and economic inequality” (https://www.baltimoreactionlegal.org/), one of the many organizations working to make a difference in our community. And, as individuals, we are supporting other organizations that work for social justice as well.

If you, too, are looking for ways to make a difference, seek out local organizations that have been involved in this struggle for a long time and see how you can help. Utilize opportunities to enrich and grow your educational and lived experience. Learn and listen and read about white privilege and white supremacy, alternatives to policing, and #citeblackwomen. Explore models for how to create social change and engage in productive conversations with people who are different from you. Seek out Black-owned businesses to patronize. Support each other, and take care of yourself. And please reach out to us if there is anything you want to talk about or any way we can support you.

We stand together in this fight against injustice.

Marina Adler

Anushka Aqil

Katie Birger    

Emily Byrne   

Jennifer Callaghan-Koru

Bambi Chapin            

Sarah Chard              

   Meryl Cozart              

Kevin Eckert       

Kate Hemmis            

Loren Henderson                   

Aubrey Jackson Soller           

Andrea Kalfoglou       

Camee Maddox-Wingfield     

Christine Mair

Dann Malihom

Julie Rosenthal          

John Schumacher     

Dena Smith

Brian Soller                

Jamie Trevitt                

Brandy Wallace         

Nick Welcome

Michele Wolff 

Takashi Yamashita

**To see what others in our UMBC community are saying about this, see UMBC Dr. Kimberly Moffitt, “For Black Mothers” (https://www.wypr.org/post/moffitt-black-mothers), as well as UMBC’s message supporting USM’s Statement on Injustice (https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/insights/posts/93513), which includes links to campus resources.

The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy (SAHAP) is excited to announce their name has officially been changed to THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND PUBLIC HEALTH (SAPH). The new name reflects the evolving nature of our department faculty composition and academic program emphases in the social dimension of health (we now have an undergraduate certificate across our three majors as well as a post-baccalaureate certificate in the Social Dimensions of Health).

Public Health is a recognized discipline that has been targeted for workforce capacity building by the U.S. Department of health and Human Services. Healthy People 2020 notes the need for public health infrastructure and the workforce demands in this area recommends that 4-year colleges and universities increase offerings in public health or related majors and/or minors. Our department has responded to this recommendation by weaving public health concern throughout each of our majors and scholarship/research. The Public Health track of the Department's Health Administration and Policy Program consistently is the most popular area of focus among our majors. The current pandemic we now face makes clear the importance of public health to population health globally.