“It is with diligence that we must stand for what is humane regardless of the “-isms’ that haunt our collective consciousness. Let our prayers be fueled by our daily interactions and not our actions be excused by our prayers.”
Adeola Fearon, Chair of the Leadership Council, URI-NA
Our communities in North America are not only in physical, but also mental and spiritual crises. The recent deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery have called forth the voices not just of North America but the global community in protest. In addition, we are also faced with the realization of the continuous inhumane treatment of people of color and towards the supporters of Black Lives Matter.
We at URI North America uplift the voices of protest against white supremacy and honor the truth that systemic racism has always plagued our society.
The Leadership Council would like to invite Cooperation Circles, URI partners, and friends in North America to share their sentiments and actions for racial solidarity and for sustainable peace, justice, and accountability in our communities.
We encourage you to tell your stories of justice through prose & poems, pictures & videos that will help raise awareness about the issues. We also invite you to share events and resources on this page.
If you’d like to submit something, please send it to Tahil Sharma, Regional Coordinator for North America, at tsharma@uri.org. For anything you might post on social media, please be sure to use the hashtag #URI4BlackLives so we can also follow what you’re doing.
Resources
We’ve created some graphics that you can use to show your solidarity. Below them, you will find some resources that will help you engage in conversations on race in the interfaith movement as you strive to create justice.
- Grammarly Partners with Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives to Inspire and Support Young Writers
- Faith-driven activism is pushing this California county to declare racism a public health crisis by Alejandra Molina at Religion News Service
- Under the Blacklight: The Intersectional vulnerabilities that COVID lays bare
This is a series of recorded online events produced by the African American Policy Forum that “seek to interrupt the narratives, political decisions, and histories that serve as the conditions of possibility for COVID-19’s destruction” and amplifies the realities of systemic and cyclical injustice for many Americans. - The Black Lives Matter Network provides a number of toolkits that focus on Healing Justice, Healing Action, and a number of social media graphics that can be used in your community to organize on the ground.
- Manifesting Love and Justice by Dismantling White Supremacy
Reflections by Rev. Victor H. Kazanjian, Jr., URI’s Executive Director - This Perilous Moment
A Statement from Religious Leaders and Communities on the Crisis of Racial Injustice and Inequity and the Current Protests - Statements by Religious Leaders in Response to the Killing of George Floyd and Racial Justice
Compiled by the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington - What the Courage to Change History Looks Like
by William Barber II, Liz Theoharis, Timothy B. Tyson and Cornel West
Voices from our CCs
Black Lives Are Sacred: The Prayers of African American Faith Leaders event by Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County
Sleeping Through the Border Crossing- Discussions on White Privilege
sermon by Rev. Erin Tamayo, member of the Leadership Council and the Arizona Faith Network