For Immediate Release
Saturday, July 4, 2020
The purpose of the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County is to promote understanding, compassion, and acceptance of each other and of our beliefs. Inspired by this purpose and motivated by the teachings of our traditions, we, the members of the IRCLC, condemn all forms of systemic racism directed at any group of people. We are especially dismayed by brutality regularly exhibited by police toward members of the black community and other peoples of color. Therefore, we stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. We would like to add our support for the organization “Advocates for Social Justice” and its recommended changes to law enforcement in our communities. Some of these include: an independent citizens’ review board, an all-out ban on chokeholds and knee-to-neck maneuvers, strict body camera provisions, and the abolition of qualified immunity.
We further support any effort to ensure racial and social equality in all branches and departments of our local governments. We object in the strongest possible way to shutting out the Advocates for Social Justice from this critical conversation.
As our values are Celebrate, Advocate, Relate, and Educate (CARE!), we strive to remain educated about the injustices in our world that started many centuries ago and continue to this day, even in our own communities. As taught by many of our faiths, all humans are created in the Divine Image. Therefore, as long as black lives are threatened and treated unequally, the sacredness of every human life cannot be fully realized.
Members of the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County