‘We cry out’ — Sonoma Valley faith leaders stand together for change
During WWII, as ships bearing Jews to death camps left the Norwegian port of Gothenburg, the Bishop declared, “If we stay silent, the stones of the church will cry out.” As nine local people of faith, we believe the time has come when we, too, must cry out.
We cry out in anguish for the sin of systemic racism and confess we have helped to perpetuate racism through our silence and inaction.
We cry out in shame for taking for granted the many privileges our whiteness has afforded us, rather than challenging the assumptions and institutions which deny those privileges to people of color.
We cry out in gratitude for the enormous outpouring of grief and soul searching that George Floyd’s killing has ignited, an outpouring signaling that violent police tactics and impunity will be tolerated no longer.
We cry out in humility for tolerating the many ways in which our culture’s legacy of looking-the-other-way has enabled and fostered police brutality and racial profiling as practiced on our brothers and sisters of color.
We cry out for a momentous and historic reimagining of how we do policing in this country. We call for a police force built on a social services model instead of a military model, whose job is problem-solving and conflict de-escalating.
One thing we know: God created us in God’s image, every one of us. We are brothers and sisters – black, brown, white, men, women, every one of us. The stones cry out. Enough! Let us stand together and demand change!
— Rev. Dr. Herbert Anderson, Rev. Tim Boeve, Rev. Norm Cram, Rev. Peadar Dalton LCSW, Rev. Dr. Todd Evans, Rev. Bill Hutchinson, Rev. Dr. Alan Kelchner, Pastor Tim Kellgren, Rev. Dr. Alan Piotter
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One would think that with all the doctors who have written this article someone would point out that Gothenburg is not in Norway but in Sweden. Sweden was neutral during WWII and did not send Jews to camps. Sweden was very active in giving Jews safe haven during the war years as well as the years that followed.
I believe that you may have meant Oslo, Norway.