Our Statement In Solidarity

The Adventist Peace Fellowship deeply laments the killing and systematic oppression of black bodies beginning in 1619 and continuing to this day most recently with the brutal and unjustified killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.  We emphatically condemn white supremacy in all of its manifestations and in all of the systems and structures that undergird our society.  

It is our desire that justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.  As such, we call for Church leadership to acknowledge, confess, and repent of our involvement in oppressing our neighbors.  We have been complicit in white supremacy culture by denying its existence, by passing our neighbor by on the other side as did the priest and Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan due to political expediency, by not speaking up in the face of gross injustice because it has not been convenient, or by speaking in vague terms which, inevitably, center on self preservation and mission rather than the inequity and pain at hand.  

We acknowledge that civil unrest is the result of oppression and we stand in solidarity with those who are non-violently placing themselves in harm’s way, most often in front of a heavily militarized police presence.  We unapologetically join our brothers and sisters in proclaiming that Black Lives Matter, and we cry out for them, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”  We recall the tradition of early Adventist leaders who spoke out against state violence and racial oppression.  We recognize Christ’s death on the Cross as the ultimate protest against all forms of evil, coercion, and domination, and we stand in the shadow of that great tradition calling all true followers of Jesus to join in the fight of liberty and justice for all.

The Adventist Peace Fellowship Leadership Team