diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CatalystInstanceImpl.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CatalystInstanceImpl.java
index f2777dca9..b8986a9c5 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CatalystInstanceImpl.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CatalystInstanceImpl.java
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ import com.facebook.react.bridge.queue.ReactQueueConfigurationImpl;
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.queue.ReactQueueConfigurationSpec;
 import com.facebook.react.common.ReactConstants;
 import com.facebook.react.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 import com.facebook.systrace.Systrace;
 import com.facebook.systrace.TraceListener;
 
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CxxModuleWrapperBase.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CxxModuleWrapperBase.java
index 61a8ffc4e..d10cbb0aa 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CxxModuleWrapperBase.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/CxxModuleWrapperBase.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 
 import com.facebook.jni.HybridData;
 import com.facebook.proguard.annotations.DoNotStrip;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
 /**
  * A Java Object which represents a cross-platform C++ module
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JSCJavaScriptExecutor.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JSCJavaScriptExecutor.java
index cefa0de59..31b2f3548 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JSCJavaScriptExecutor.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JSCJavaScriptExecutor.java
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 
 import com.facebook.jni.HybridData;
 import com.facebook.proguard.annotations.DoNotStrip;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
 @DoNotStrip
 public class JSCJavaScriptExecutor extends JavaScriptExecutor {
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeArray.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeArray.java
index d4c46f723..26cd356cb 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeArray.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeArray.java
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 
 import com.facebook.jni.HybridData;
 import com.facebook.proguard.annotations.DoNotStrip;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
 /**
  * Base class for an array whose members are stored in native code (C++).
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeMap.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeMap.java
index 9e192dc4e..ea0b6b142 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeMap.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/NativeMap.java
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 
 import com.facebook.jni.HybridData;
 import com.facebook.proguard.annotations.DoNotStrip;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
 /**
  * Base class for a Map whose keys and values are stored in native code (C++).
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ProxyJavaScriptExecutor.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ProxyJavaScriptExecutor.java
index 59e30eaa6..ae25e0cd9 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ProxyJavaScriptExecutor.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ProxyJavaScriptExecutor.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 
 import com.facebook.jni.HybridData;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 import com.facebook.proguard.annotations.DoNotStrip;
 
 /**
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ReactBridge.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ReactBridge.java
index 3f7aa5a6f..f0b7449e2 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ReactBridge.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/ReactBridge.java
@@ -12,11 +12,8 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
 public class ReactBridge {
-  static {
+  public static void staticInit() {
+    // Ideally we'd put this in static and only run it once, but that causes this method to get stripped
     SoLoader.loadLibrary("reactnativejni");
   }
-
-  public static void staticInit() {
-    // This method only exists to trigger the static initializer above
-  }
 }
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeArray.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeArray.java
index e6c343264..6b30bc326 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeArray.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeArray.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 import com.facebook.infer.annotation.Assertions;
 import com.facebook.jni.HybridData;
 import com.facebook.proguard.annotations.DoNotStrip;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of a write-only array stored in native memory. Use
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeMap.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeMap.java
index 6b6c639d2..04e5bdfdc 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeMap.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/WritableNativeMap.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ package com.facebook.react.bridge;
 import com.facebook.jni.HybridData;
 import com.facebook.infer.annotation.Assertions;
 import com.facebook.proguard.annotations.DoNotStrip;
-import com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of a write-only map stored in native memory. Use