The women of Mormon Women for Ethical Government join our voices with those calling for justice and accountability following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers and self-deputized citizens. The wave of widespread human despair triggered by the callous killing of George Floyd has been overwhelming. That both the brutality of his killing and the depth of public response were inconceivable to so many should stand as a profound indictment of white American indifference to the suffering of people of color.
The inhumanity displayed by four officers of the law brought into focus the myriad ways our nation unevenly metes out justice. It also revealed how selectively we adhere to our own professed ideals. As a people, we praise the hope and wealth that the American experiment has provided for some, yet we ignore evidence that this prosperity does not extend to all. We applaud our democracy, yet our democratic process has excluded and suppressed the Black vote. We claim to be a nation of laws, yet we have allowed our laws to disproportionately punish and incarcerate Black women and men.
As women of deep Christian faith, we believe our nation can heal and experience redemption from racism. As advocates of democracy, we also know that our laws are only as ethical as the citizens who enact and enforce them. We can only move toward lasting national redemption when those same citizens personally sacrifice to repair the wounds caused by both the sin of slavery and by the racism and oppression that continued after its abolition. Unchecked, this sin has tarnished many otherwise noble endeavors, including our own religion. The women of MWEG are committed to doing this transformative work. We will begin with our own hearts and renew our commitment to speak truth peacefully and with conviction in our own families and faith community.
The pain of our Black sisters and brothers is real. We must mourn with those who are mourning and seek to bear one another’s burdens (see Mosiah 18:8-9). We can do so by using all of our voices to ensure that our elected officials and sworn law enforcement confront systemic racism. We can be witnesses to and grieve the senseless loss of life and the daily injustices so many have endured. We can do this by calling, marching, and protesting, and by writing again and again and again. We need to listen to, learn from, and follow leaders from communities of color who have already laid a path forward for us.
Justice and equality beget peace. Black lives matter. They must matter to us all, or the American experiment has failed.
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