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anti-racism proclamation
for white american allies
wriTTen by beverly mills, sharon elaine buck,
and catherine J. Fulmer-hogan
Introduction
Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Black America. As such, we live in a society which has demonstrated time and time again that the lives of White America bear more value than ours.
Our individual and collective demands that we be treated as equal human beings under the law, and our insistence that White Americans are not inherently entitled to more rights have fallen on deaf ears. We are accused of racism amid our attempts to eradicate it. We are told not to kneel or disrespect the American flag and we are expected to declare our undying loyalty to this country, but we are of the opinion that 401 years of service should speak for itself.
We have endured enslavement, Jim Crow laws, public lynching, and the perils of systematic racism. We live with a perpetual foot on our neck because our lives continue to be expendable.
This month, yet another unarmed Black man, George Floyd, was murdered at the hands of the police while indifferent officers and helpless bystanders watched what was a modern-day public lynching. He joins Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Oscar Grant, 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others who throughout the decades who have lost their lives because of the racist cancer that plagues this nation. How many times has Blackness been weaponized by White America because of fear, hatred, and prejudice?
We are constantly counting the cost of speaking out and speaking up, putting our lives and livelihood on the line with every public outcry. White America it is time that you do something. We are calling on our White Allies to stand with and for their Black brothers and sisters. We need you to declare with us, “not one more” and that “we are done dying” at the hands of white supremacists and those that would protect them.
We need you to hold our legislators, politicians, law enforcement, justice system, educators and all those who hold and exercise power accountable. They need to know that “We the People” have spoken and we will no longer tolerate the oppression of Black Americans.
Many of you have worshipped and prayed with us, shed tears and mourned with us, and asked how you could be of service. We ask that you lend your name and reputation to he attached.
Respectfully Submitted,
Beverly Mills, Pennington, NJ
Sharon Elaine Buck, Hopewell, NJ
Catherine Fulmer-Hogan, Hopewell Township, NJ
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.