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June 4, 2020

SISTERS OF ST FRANCIS, CLINTON, IOWA RELEASE STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO RACIAL INJUSTICE

The Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa have released the following statement:

We, the Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa, grieve along with the victims' families, and with all people, particularly black Americans, who are mourning the recent senseless deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless other racially motivated deaths and injustices. 

 

We hear the cries of outrage and calls for justice by people all over our country.

 

We acknowledge our complicity in perpetuating the racism endemic to our country from its beginning. We look within ourselves and recognize how our white privilege has allowed us to accept the reality where some people matter, and some do not. 

 

This is a pivotal moment for the United States. Racism, both institutional racism which privileges some at the expense of others and the daily acts of microaggressions, hate, and discrimination by individuals, diminishes us all. It is time to dismantle these systemic, structural, and cultural realities of white supremacy.

 

Racism calls for a transformation of heart.

 

In keeping with our mission of living and promoting active nonviolence and peacemaking, we pledge to:

 

·         Listen to the experience and wisdom of people of color;

·         Educate ourselves and others about racism in all its dimensions (systemic, institutional, and cultural);

·         Work in solidarity with people of color for radical reforms to our criminal, health, educational, housing, economic, and all other racialized systems;

·         Recommit ourselves to nonviolence as the way to effect systemic, societal, and personal change.