Ecumenical Advocacy Days’ 2020 conference theme is “Imagine! God’s Earth and People Restored!” As the COVID-19 pandemic lays bare the deeply rooted systemic injustice and institutionalized racism that traps communities of color in cycles of poverty and poor health outcomes, we come together as an ecumenical Christian community to demand justice in our nation’s response.

These communities already experience devastating racial, health and economic inequities due to climate change and environmental injustice, making them more vulnerable to job loss, debt, wealth loss, illness, and death during this time. For this reason, each response to this pandemic must employ a racial equity lens that equips policies and programs to eliminate such divides.

Call on Congress urging them to pass short-term relief and long-term recovery packages that address historic systemic racism and wealth disparities, while also addressing immediate needs in the U.S. and around the world. Further, we must support developing countries’ recovery through debt relief and poverty-focused foreign assistance. We are a global community and we will not have recovered until all have recovered.