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May 20, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – The Adrian Dominican Sisters stand in support and solidarity of the May 18, 2022, statement by the National Black Sisters’ Conference deploring the “irrational act of violence” against 10 innocent people in Buffalo on May 14, 2022, and calling on people of faith to speak out for justice. The statement follows.
As the National Black Sisters' Conference we stand in solidarity and in grief with the families of the deceased; the good citizens of Buffalo, and people of good will around the world, who are grieving this senseless taking of innocent life in the name of white supremacy.
We are outraged and saddened by this irrational act of violence, which has caused untold suffering and loss for our nation and the loved ones of the deceased. We speak their names that we might honor and never forget them.
Aaron Sutter, 55; Pearly Young, 77; Celeste Chaney, 65; Ruth Whitfield, 86; Deacon Heyward Paterson, 67; Katherine Massey, 72; Roberta Drary, 32; Margus Morrison, 52; Andre Mackneil, 53; and Geraldine Talley, 62.
They were ordinary people, who cared about their families, communities, and in large and small ways, tried to be responsible citizens and good neighbors. Now, countless lives have been shattered and are irreparable because of one act of hate-filled violence.
As people of faith we must cry out for justice! We stand in solidarity and prayer with the families of the deceased and we demand that our nation, once and for all, ACT to end gun violence, which is destroying communities of color; to denounce white supremacy and all groups that espouse hate and perpetuate violence against African Americans, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, the Jewish community, the disabled and anyone, who is labeled "different" and therefore unworthy to exist.
If we do not ACT NOW we will surely witness the demise and perhaps even the destruction of our nation, which professes to be “one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
It is time that we begin to live these words and not simply give lip-service to them.
It is time that we eradicate the cancers of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and xenophobia.
It is time that we become the nation that our founders dared to envision even while enslaving Africans and annihilating Native Peoples.
We call upon our Catholic Bishops and all leaders of faith to work as diligently to protect the lives of the living as the lives of the unborn.
We call upon President Biden, Congress, and the Attorney General of the United States to pass sensible gun-control laws and to punish the perpetrators of hate and violence to the fullest extent of the law.
Finally, we call upon all people of good will to speak truth to power, and to work unceasingly for justice.
We must ACT NOW for tomorrow may be too late.
United in the struggle for justice, Sister Josita Colbert, SNDdeN President
May 18, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – As members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), we Adrian Dominican Sisters strongly support this statement deploring the racial hatred and gun violence that led to the devastating loss of life in Buffalo, New York, with the mass shooting of May 14, 2022. The LCWR statement follows.
Our hearts are breaking as we once again come face to face with the racial hatred and gun violence that infect our land. The members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious extend their condolences to the Buffalo community and all who lost loved ones, friends, and neighbors and we say once more violence and white supremacy cannot stand. And we know that is not enough!
Racism is a virus, every bit as deadly as COVID-19, that has infected our nation since its inception and until we address it, people of color will continue to die, and our nation will continue to bleed. Racism, whether the institutional racism which privileges some at the expense of others or the daily acts of hate and discrimination, diminishes us all. It denies that most profound truth, that all of us are created in God’s image and each of us is entitled to lives of dignity and respect.
As women religious in a predominantly white organization, we recognize how we have been privileged. We lament our silence in the face of white supremacist ideology, and we acknowledge our complicity in institutional racism. We ask forgiveness of our sisters and brothers of color, and we pray for our nation’s healing. And we know that is not enough!
It is time for bold, decisive action. We pledge to raise our voices and to act to end the violence and white supremacy which has cost us dearly. In the wake of the horror of Buffalo, we rededicate ourselves to LCWR’s commitment to dismantle systemic racism and white privilege and effect transformative change in our hearts, our organization, and our society and we pledge anew to build God’s beloved community. We will not permit that violence and white supremacy to stand!
LCWR is an association of leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. The conference has nearly 1,300 members, who represent more than 38,800 women religious in the United States. Founded in 1956, LCWR assists its members to collaboratively carry out their service of leadership to further the mission of the Gospel in today’s world.