Interfaith Clergy Statement Condemning White Supremacy and Systemic Racism
The Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association (BHICA) is composed of neighborhood imams, ministers, pastors, priests and rabbis who have gathered once a month for decades to rep- resent thousands of faithful neighbors at the table. As a multi-faith group we affirm that every person is made in the divine image and possesses inherent dignity and worth. The recent death of George Floyd as a result of police brutality manifests the evils of white supremacy and systemic racism. We condemn these and all forms of racial violence.
White supremacy mars the image of God that is reflected in all of us and corrupts God’s inten- tion for society. Systemic racism is insidious; it permeates our public, private and spiritual lives in ways we often fail to comprehend or acknowledge. Black lives matter and we stand in solidar- ity with all who suffer from the scourge of racism. As people of faith we join others of good will in striving to dismantle systemic racism. We lament our complicity in racist systems and commit to personal and corporate self-examination.
In the spirit of respect and love we commit to the sacred struggle for racial and social justice as we celebrate the possibility of transcendent change.
June 2020
Nancy Black, Brooklyn Monthly Meeting
The Reverend Michael J. Callaghan, c.o., Oratory Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Reverend Erica Cooper, Plymouth Church
Rev. Michael J. Crumpler, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Brooklyn
The Reverend Canon John Denaro, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral The Reverend Mark Genszler, Christ Church Cobble Hill
Pastor Klaus Dieter Gress, Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church Meagan Henry, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Brooklyn
Dr. Ahmad Jaber, Dawood Masjid
The Rev. Mark Lane, c.o., Oratory Church of St. Boniface The Reverend Alan Christopher Lee, Grace Church Rabbi Hanniel Levenson, Congregation Mount Sinai
Rabbi Serge Lippe, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue Ethan Loewi, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Brooklyn
The Reverend Erika K. Meyer, Grace Church
Pastor Clint Padgitt, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Cantor Ayelet Porzecanski, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue The Reverend Dr. Allen F. Robinson, Grace Church
The Reverend Katherine Salisbury, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral Pastor Julie Sløk, The Danish Seamen’s Church in New York
The Reverend Marie A. Tatro, The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island The Reverend Adriene Thorne, First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn
The Reverend Dr. Craig D. Townsend, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral The Reverend Dr. Brett Younger, Plymouth Church