On May 25, 2020 George Floyd died, after being accused of passing a “counterfeit $20.00 bill”, from the violent actions of a Minneapolis police officer, and three other officers who did not actively intervene. Surrounding George Floyd and the police officers were horrified bystanders. Since this event we have witnessed anger, outrage, destruction, violence, grief and despair.
As a Catholic College in the Dominican tradition we look at the values that permeate who we are in order to respond: the pursuit of truth, even when it is painful, the dignity of each human being, the call to justice and mercy, the balance of rights and responsibilities, the pursuit of the common good and the solidarity we need with others in order to confront injustices.
We offer this litany of prayer to remind ourselves, as we have with the Coronavirus pandemic, “We are all in this together”.
The response to the Litany is: God, bring us mercy.
Let us all remember that each person is loved by God and therefore needs to be loved by us, we pray…
Let us examine our own biases and racism, asking for strength to overcome these in ourselves and become advocates for equity among all people, we pray…
Let us have the humility to listen to those who think differently than we do and be willing to engage in dialogue and change around issues that divide us, we pray…
Let us engage in non-violent ways of bringing about social change in order to create a society that participates in doing justice, we pray…
Let us have the courage to address the systemic issues in our society that lead to racism and injustice, we pray…
Let us not let the memory of George Floyd’s death fade from our memory, but rather let us seek to listen to others and be his voice for those who face violent injustice each day, we pray…
“…only then will justice and mercy meet…”
Amen