From the General Board of Church and Society

Church and Society stands in solidarity with the Black community against systemic racism in the U.S.

Our belief that Black lives are created in the image of God inspires us to say Black Lives Matter.

As we wrote last month, "It is imperative for the white community to advance beyond mere statements condemning racially motivated violence. Policies must be adopted and implemented to ensure that incidents like the killing of Mr. Arbery are properly addressed, and recurrences are prevented."

The task remains the same. We failed to prevent the killing of innocent black lives from recurring. Now we must add the names of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd alongside Ahmaud Arbery. 

We recommit ourselves to challenging privilege, power, and unjust access. As our Social Principles remind us, racism is sin. 

Now is the time to act. We call on United Methodists to:

• Work for the elimination of racism in all its forms, institutional and personal (Book of Resolutions #3371) 
• Partner with elected officials and law enforcement to end racial profiling of Black and Brown communities (Book of Resolutions #3377)
• Advocate for the rights of formerly incarcerated persons and for more humane systems of restorative justice (Book of Resolutions #5031)
• Urge white United Methodists and majority-white local churches to confront their white privilege and repent for their participation in a culture of racist practices (Book of Resolutions #3376)
• Share conferences’ work undoing the culture of hate and name hate crimes in their conference bounds (Book of Resolutions #3422)

Not only is to be silent to be complicit--it is to abandon our baptismal vows.