Bishop Kelly’s Statement on Racism and Exclusion
Bishop Kelly’s Statement on Racism and Exclusion
Dear BK Community,
Our hearts are heavy and our anger high at the killing of George Floyd, the most recent example of atrocities committed against Black Americans and people of color in this country.
We are writing to you because we are a Catholic school and people of faith. We cannot stay silent. We are called by our faith to condemn all racism and violence and to stand for the importance of human life and the dignity of all people. As Pope Francis said when he addressed this issue on Wednesday: “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”
We also proclaim in our BK Way that “we are a safe, caring, and compassionate place where all students, faculty, staff and parents feel welcomed and valued.” This requires us to understand why protests continue in hundreds of cities and towns across the country, including the vigil in Boise on Tuesday, June 2nd.
The protests that continue in our cities reflect the justified frustration and anger of millions of people who are tired of the deadly racism of this country — our country. People are protesting the humiliation, indignity, and unequal opportunity which Black Americans endure every day in America. It should not be this way. Racism has been tolerated for far too long in our way of life. The United States was founded on protest and revolution, and this week’s protests belong to the very important American tradition of protest.
We also recognize that the violence of last week is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost. Let us keep our eyes on the prize of true and lasting change. Legitimate protests should not be exploited by persons who have different values and agendas. Burning and looting communities does not advance the cause of racial equality and human dignity. Ruining the lives and livelihoods of our neighbors is not acceptable.
So what should our response be here in our Bishop Kelly community? What can we do? We would offer three suggestions to consider:
Student and Community Education
As an educational institution, we need to strive to help our students, parents and staff understand the issues of racism, social justice, and mercy. For those looking to learn more about matters of systemic racism, the following are just a few of many resources to consider which we have found from several sources, including other Catholic schools and the Catholic Church:
General Education
- Just Mercy. This is an excellent book by Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. The book was turned into a movie and the official trailer can be found here.
- A detailed list of anti-racism resources: books, movie recommendations, and more
Catholic Perspectives
- Catholic Social Teaching and Racism
- United States Catholic Conference of Bishops on Racism
- Bishop Peter Christensen’s statement
- The assumptions of white privilege and what we can do about it by Fr. Bryan Massingale, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a moral theologian and currently a professor at Fordham University.
Community Engagement
- One of the key strategies coming out of our 2020-23 strategic plan is to “Strengthen BK’s student service-learning program and demonstrate “faith-in-action” by serving their communities and showing compassion for those most vulnerable in our community.” Support your children and challenge yourselves to do more in this area to make our communities more inclusive and compassionate.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said it well this past week: the best way to start to combat institutional racism is to make a friend who is different from you and get to know them and listen to their stories. We have a marvelous chance to do just that here at BK as 15% of our BK students and their parents are people of color.
Spiritual Response by Father Greg Vance, S.J.
Bishop Kelly Chaplain
In Shakespeare’s great play Hamlet, the titular character says this after finding out that his world was not as it seemed to him: “The time is out of joint, O cursed spite,/ that ever I was born to put it right!” (I, v, 190-191) Maybe we can identify with Hamlet. We are living through earthquakes and pandemics, economic collapse and international tensions, and to top it all off, we witnessed a murder on live television. The rock-bottom basis of Christian and Catholic life is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. Not just some of us. Not just the ones who look like us or act like us or agree with us or believe like us. We are ALL created in the image and likeness of God. To believe anything short of this is to open the way for the justification of the kinds of atrocities and violence that so many communities have suffered for far too long. The aged or the infirm, the developmentally or physically disabled, the Jews or the Muslims or the Catholics. At this sad time, we once again confront the painful reality of racism and violence against communities of color. None of it is right, none of it is justifiable, because of the principle that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. From this principle comes your dignity and mine, your intrinsic value and mine. And George Floyd’s. And Ahmaud Arbery’s. And Breonna Taylor’s. And everyone’s. The challenge in Hamlet’s quote is to work to “put it right,” but the trap is thinking that we could ever do this on our own. Since we are all God’s image, then we clearly need God’s powerful help to mend our hurts. We need God’s active companionship to make change for the better. And we need God’s perfect love to replace what can be too often in us love only for our own people, our own groups, our own communities. We are ALL created in the image and likeness of God. May God Himself bless us with the strength of character to act more consistently like we believe this. The times are most certainly “out of joint.” But unlike Hamlet, who curses that reality, let us turn to the God who created each one of us, and ask for Him to mend the wounds we are incapable of mending on our own. Let us pray for all who suffer prejudice, marginalization, and violence. Let us pray for a purification of our whole society, as Robert Kennedy asked for in 1968, and as Dr. King dreamed of in 1963. We are not there. The only way there is with the God who created us all, in His image and likeness.
As Archbishop Gomez, president of the US Council of Catholic Bishops, ended his statement of U.S. Bishops’ President on George Floyd and the protests in American Cities : “We should not let it be said that George Floyd died for no reason. We should honor the sacrifice of his life by removing racism and hate from our hearts and renewing our commitment to fulfill our nation’s sacred promise — to be a beloved community of life, liberty, and equality for all”.
Let us begin today here at Bishop Kelly and in the state of Idaho!
God bless,
Rich Raimondi, President
Mike Caldwell, Principal
Fr. Greg Vance, S.J., Chaplain.
