For Immediate Release – Press Release
InterFaith Council’s Statement: In Solidarity with the African American Community
Crystal Reynolds, Bionca Gambill and Tess Brooks-Stevens for the InterFaith Council of the Wabash Valley
We, the Interfaith Council of the Wabash Valley, a group of individuals with diverse religious faiths and humanitarian belief systems firmly rooted in principles of compassion, hope, mutual respect, and love, uncompromisingly stand with all victims of hate, violence, oppression, and injustice. Moreover, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the African American communities across the Wabash Valley, the state of Indiana, and the United States of America. Black Lives Matter.
As a community of many humanitarian traditions, we of the IFC do not tolerate injustice, bigotry, or racism in any form. We stand for love, respect and inclusion and denounce all forms of hatred.
In keeping with our basic philosophy and belief system, we recognize that words without compassionate action are hollow. Therefore, we set forth this statement as one step in our quest to help make the communities in which we live become more just and equitable through organized and individual advocacy and action as well as through prayer and meditation. In our journey of compassionate action, we will continue to partner with other groups whose mission is to make our society more just and equitable.
Furthermore, we will continue to educate ourselves and our communities about bias and work to support the strengthening of local, state, and national laws and regulations that prevent and oppose bias-based violence, intimidation, and hate crimes. Believing that the power to make change is not just in some of us but is in all of us, we, as a chorus of diverse voices in a shared humanity, extend a hand of compassion and collective hope and say to the African American community: We hear your cry for justice; we hear your cry for fair treatment; and we hear your cry for equality. We stand with you, we kneel with you, and we breathe with you!
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