Dear All Souls,
I am writing today with feelings of anguish and rage about another pandemic-one that has plagued our nation since its founding and that has once again reared its ugly head: white supremacist violence.
Earlier this month we learned troubling details about the February murder of Ahmaud Arbery by two white men in Georgia. Last week, Kentucky officials opened an investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor, a Louisville EMT who was shot and killed in her home by police. And then on Memorial Day, George Floyd was brutally murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, his dying words echoing those of Eric Garner: I can't breathe.
Each of these violent deaths unfolded against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, from which African Americans are dying at three times the rate of white Americans.
Our hearts cry out: When will the violence and injustice end?!
Yet even as we utter that cry, we know the answer: It will only end when all of us-especially white Americans-commit to dismantling white supremacy.
As Unitarian Universalists and members of All Souls Church, we know that the work of undoing white supremacy is sacred work. It is part of our 8th Principle commitment to "journey toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other forms of oppression in ourselves and our institutions."
You can work with All Souls Church to counter white supremacy on several fronts. Help our Reeb Voting Rights Project resist the many efforts to disenfranchise people of color and the poor in the upcoming election, the most critical in our lifetimes. Work with the Green Souls and their partners on food security east of the Anacostia. Further your awareness of structural oppression by taking our Jubilee Anti-racism training, offered several times a year at the church.
These are just some of the ways All Souls is actively seeking to counter white supremacy, but there is more that we can and must do. Rev. Rob Keithan and our racial justice team will be communicating with us next week about further steps we can take as a community to respond to the current crisis, and to the systemic oppression that caused it.
In the meantime, friends, let us stand in solidarity and love with the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and all those whose lives have been taken by white supremacist violence.
Yours in the struggle,
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