Tell Buffalo bishop: Condemn white supremacy [UPDATED AND CLOSED]
The Most Rev. Michael William Fisher, Catholic Bishop of Buffalo
The recent mass shooting in a majority Black neighborhood of Buffalo, N.Y., was an evil act from an avowed racist who touted the white-supremacist ideology that white people are being "replaced" by people of color.
Yet when the Catholic bishop of this heavily Catholic city first responded, there wasn't a single word about racism or white supremacy in his official statement.
At a time when Christian nationalists are emboldened in politics and in the church, it's urgent that clergy speak with prophetic courage on racial justice. White Christian leaders in particular have a critical role to play in challenging white nationalists and demonstrating solidarity with vulnerable communities that continue to be targets of racist violence.
As the Rev. Denise O. Walden-Glenn, Executive Director of VOICE Buffalo, said in a public statement, "Black and Brown communities are in a state of emergency. For anyone who is serious about ending racism in this country, it's time to put in the work to dismantle machineries of hate and invest in systems that will actually keep us safe."
Sign this petition today, and together we can urge Bishop Michael W. Fisher to publicly denounce the racism at the root of this violence and to stand in solidarity with Buffalo's Black and Brown communities.
"[The shooter's] intent, fueled by an indoctrination of white supremacist rhetoric, was to kill as many people as possible out of an irrational fear that white people were being replaced in America. This country has struggled for years with the practice of racism and white supremacy that has victimized communities of color and has weakened us all. My heart is so heavy, and I pray for the victims, their families, friends, and this community traumatized by this tragedy."
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To:
The Most Rev. Michael William Fisher, Catholic Bishop of Buffalo
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Bishop Fisher,
The recent mass shooting in Buffalo was an evil act from an avowed racist who targeted a Black community and believed in the white supremacist ideology that whites are being "replaced" by people of color. As Catholics and other Christians in Buffalo and across the country, we are deeply concerned that your official statement about the murders failed to name this truth. You were strangely silent about the fact that racism was at the root of this white supremacist violence.
When religious leaders do not explicitly condemn racism, the church continues to be complicit in the sin of white supremacy. We urge you to speak out with moral clarity about systemic racism, and to encourage pastors in your diocese to use their pulpits to preach about how Catholics must respond to and reject the deadly ideology of white supremacy.
At a time when Christian nationalists feel more emboldened in politics and in the church, it's urgent that clergy speak with prophetic courage on racial justice. White Christian leaders, in particular, have a critical role to play in challenging white nationalists and demonstrating solidarity with vulnerable communities that continue to be targets of white-supremacist violence.
We encourage you to listen to and partner with local faith-based leaders such as the Rev. Denise O. Walden-Glenn, Executive Director of VOICE Buffalo. "We lost ten of our neighbors to white supremacist violence," she said in a public statement. "This kind of hate is not created in a vacuum. It is the product of unexamined and unfiltered extremism, propagated by centuries-old systems of racism that undergird this country... Black and Brown communities are in a state of emergency. For anyone who is serious about ending racism in this country, it's time to put in the work to dismantle machineries of hate and invest in systems that will actually keep us safe."
We are praying that you will take bold action to condemn the racist roots of violence in our communities.