After attempts to send the open letter as an all student, faculty and staff email were blocked by the office of student life unless the letter was subject to "edits," ICP Leaders posted their open letter of support and solidarity to the ICP Instagram. The post contained the letter below and the following caption: "A letter of solidarity and support for our beloved Black students, faculty, and staff. This letter was intended to be sent out as an all student email, but sadly, in order to do so, higher positions of power in the institution required parts of it be edited - which we refuse to do. To our Black community, you are strong, powerful, resilient, and beautiful. You are loved" Dear Black Students, Faculty and Staff of Westmont College, In response to the... ...recent violent and racist video circulating through Westmont’s community, the continued unjust murders of members of the Black community by police officers, the systems of White supremacy that enable these events, and the lack of accountability, ignorance, and silence that constantly inflicts pain on the Black community, non-Black Intercultural Programs Leaders would like to issue a public statement of solidarity and support for Westmont’s Black students, faculty, and staff and for the Black community across the globe.
To begin with, we would like to name, acknowledge, and apologize for the actions and inactions of ourselves and our ancestors, despite our diverse histories, more often than not, non-Black communities have chosen to remain passive and complicit in an attempt to improve our social status at the cost of the Black community - by doing so, we have and continue to reinforce anti-Black violence in all of its forms. We humbly ask for your forgiveness, and are devoted to the long continuous repentance work of actively dismantling racism in our institution, in ourselves and in our society. Our hearts break with you and we echo your cries for justice. We can only imagine the amount of pain you are in, and we sit with you in it - in the tears, in the fear, in the anger, in the weariness. We stand with you, and will work to continuously elevate your voice. We will fight alongside you - in regards to both the racism that is upheld by our institution, as well as the racism upheld in our society. We are in awe of your resilience, your passion, your power, your patience, your love, your hope and your beautiful beings. 1 Corinthians 12:26-7 is a reminder of the interconnected nature between the struggle for Black life and the life of the Body of Christ. As an interconnected body we tremble at the ongoing violence of White supremacy perpetuated against you. When we follow Jesus to the cross we find ourselves at the terrible location of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubrey and so many others. Here, we plead with God; “Lord have mercy.” We seek to live into the wonderful possibility of the Kingdom of God here and now, even in the midst of centuries of violence and hate. We commit ourselves to the ongoing prophetic work of demanding that God’s kingdom come, and God’s will be done in our institution and beyond. In this way, may we know and truly believe that Black lives matter. We see you, we hear you, we are here for you, and we love you. Yours in peace and pain, Non-Black ICP Leaders (‘19-’20 & ‘20-’21): Brendan Fong, Caitlyn Wells, Tiana Krukar, Amarilis Falconi-Kroeker, Lauren Marino, Jessica Aragon, Sam Gee, Catherine Meng, Ben Thomas, Odette Vera, Will Walker, Kat Marquez, Noah Argao, Sera Thaicherion, Saray Duran, Emily Mosher, Alyssa Villa, Abby Park, Caleb Liebengood, Tirzah Dove, Lauren Petersen
1 Comment
Dee Drost
10/25/2020 12:28:04 pm
God Bless everyone! All lives matter to God every single one of us! God does not see race He sees us! Unity is what He calls for! Family units, the unborn of all race, to have a God given chance! People single out themselves God doesn't! To come together in prayer is what matters! Everyone has a right to be human! We have black, brown, white, Asian, Native Americans who have died since the beginning of time. Supremacy of any race I pray is destroyed in the Name of Jesus! Gang mentality has no place in no family, community, school, government nor church. Division of "All People" is the devils playground! Never apologize for who God created you to be or the color of your skin! God can't be wrong only people this includes myself but I will let God be the judge of that!
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