We are angry. We see gross racial injustice in the United States today. We see the anti-black violence committed by the police, by the prison system, by poverty, by environmental racism, by racial bias, and by hateful words and deeds. We know that this violence is pervasive and connected, and we know that it results from this nation's deep, longstanding commitment to denying black humanity. Many of us, as people of color, have not only observed this violence at a distance; we have felt it on our own bodies and souls.
We are heartened by grassroots organizing demanding racial justice, and we join in the affirmation that Black Lives Matter. We seek to learn from activists and to struggle together with them, both to challenge the white supremacy that infects this nation and to envision what racial justice may look like. We are grateful to movement organizers for crafting an inspiring platform that calls for an end to the war on black people, reparations, investment in black communities, economic justice, community control of police, and black political power. We are inspired by the movement's deep analysis of anti-black racism and by the connections that the movement makes with other struggles for justice.
We acknowledge the complicity of religious communities in perpetuating anti-black racism, and we acknowledge the deafening silence of many religious communities in the face of racial injustice. But we also remember the long, inspiring tradition of religious organizing and analysis aimed at challenging anti-black racism. We remember the invitation to believe in a God who is black. We remember the ideals of love and nonviolence, and we remember how these ideals have been perverted by those who privilege hollow peace over justice. We learn from the movement that advancing justice requires disrupting ordinary life.
Affirming that black lives matter is necessary, but it is not enough. We call on our fellow theologians and scholars of religion to articulate how religious traditions speak to anti-black racism in their research and teaching. We also call on our colleagues to personally join the movement, in the streets. We call on religious leaders to interrogate the ways their institutions have been complicit in anti-black racism and to mobilize institutional resources in support of the struggle for racial justice—and to personally join the movement, in the streets. Finally, we call on religious practitioners to discern the resources in their faith traditions to struggle against anti-black racism—and, as well, to personally join the movement, in the streets.
We are an ecumenical group, Catholic and Protestant, Jewish and agnostic. We are predominantly black, but we are also Latino and white. We are gay and straight, immigrants and U.S.-born, clergy and laity. We are theologians and secular scholars of religion. Collectively, we lament that the grip of anti-black racism remains so tight. We denounce the false god of whiteness that is worshiped throughout this nation. We know that changes to a few laws will not suffice. We demand a revolutionary transformation in souls and in society, in universities and in political institutions. We believe that struggle and worship can be one and the same. Let us follow the lead of the black youths blocking highways and disrupting brunches, organizing together to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of black life.