Parents Place, part of JFCS’ Center for Children and Youth, supports families of all backgrounds and faiths. JFCS has issued the following statement in coalition with with the San Francisco Interfaith Council and our network of faith-based organizations.
As leaders of diverse faith-based traditions we understand human life to be the greatest and most sacred gift endowed by our Creator. Inherent in that gift is the inalienable right to live freely and not in fear.
The May 25, 2020, senseless killing of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, at the knee of a law enforcement official, sworn and entrusted to protect the public and keep the peace, is yet another stark reminder of humanity’s blindness to the sacredness of that gift of life and society’s failure, if not refusal, to act to ensure equal rights for all created beings.
We lament the murder and death of George Floyd and pray for him, his family, loved ones and all in need of strength and comfort in this fragile time of grief.
The overwhelming national response to George Floyd’s death, manifested in peaceful protests, not only honors his life, but powerfully expresses the threshold of tolerance we as Americans have reached for injustice, systematic racism and discrimination against people of color. This powerful resurgence of a long overdue civil rights movement will not be silenced until structural change is realized.
We lift our voices and stand in unity and solidarity with our sisters and brothers of color in proclaiming that BLACK LIVES MATTER.