A Statement from the Collegiate Churches of New York
June 1, 2020
The Collegiate Church condemns the horrific death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer sworn to uphold the law, and a member of a department whose motto is "To Protect with Courage, To Serve with Compassion!"
We condemn the white supremacist ideologies that create the conditions for this unremitting violence toward Black people and affirm that Black Lives Matter.
We urge governments to hold this perpetrator, and others of racist acts of hate, to account to the fullest extent of the law.
We urge people everywhere to gather in protest and make their voices heard, that the wanton taking of human lives will not and cannot be tolerated.
We urge those protesting these criminal injustices, those sworn to protect and serve their right to protest, and officials at every level of government to recall the words of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”