Anti-Racism Statement
endorsed by consensus on July 26, 2020

The God of justice and mercy calls to us from 1 John 4:20: Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  

 

We, the members and friends of Peace Community Church, lament the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Desmond Franklin, Tamir Rice, and so many other Black people killed by police officers. We denounce police violence, which disproportionately harms people of color, and we understand that police brutality exists within the larger setting of systemic racism. We join all those who proclaim that Black lives matter.

 

Embracing the call to be anti-racists—to dismantle the systems of white supremacy and to love our neighbors as ourselves—we pledge to:

 

• acknowledge the centuries of injustice that gave power to white people at the expense of Black, brown, and Indigenous people

• listen to people of color and believe their experiences

• Communally and individually, we will continue to discern ways to live out this pledge in our daily lives, in such acts as:

• talking with our white friends and family about justice for our Black friends and their families

• speaking up when we hear racist remarks or jokes

• reading books to educate ourselves and to deepen our hearts and minds

• teaching our children about racism and sharing books about Black lives with them

• financially supporting organizations that work for equality, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, Black Lives Matter, and the Poor People’s Campaign

• creating a Bible study that looks at passages that have historically been seen as racial

• writing our elected officials demanding justice for Black lives

• publicly proclaiming our support of the Black Lives Matter movement by displaying a banner in front of our church and by wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts

• praying in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds each week for an end to racism, in remembrance of George Floyd’s murder.

 

May God’s Holy Spirit abide with and in us, granting breath to all God’s children.