With countless people in our nation and around the world the Sisters of Bon Secours condemned the killing of Mr. George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement last May and acknowledged the racism that led to his death. Today, we breathe a sigh of relief that former police officer Derek Chauvin was held responsible on all counts of murder and manslaughter. This guilty verdict provides a critical measure of accountability for law enforcement that has been long overdue. This guilty verdict affirms the words we carried on our placards and the mantra we have chanted these last eleven months in our peaceful protests that “Black lives matter”; that George Floyd’s life matters. For the Floyd Family and so many other families who grieve the loss of loved ones at the hands of police brutality, this guilty verdict offers a glimmer of hope that police accountability will become the norm rather than the exception for our sisters and brothers of color.

Yet, even as we breathe this sigh of relief and welcome this ruling, we acknowledge that the difficult work of dismantling systemic racism is a long, arduous and lifelong commitment. In this pivotal moment in history, we, women of healing, reiterate and reinvigorate our commitment to bring healing to the disease of racism in our own hearts, in our communities, our country and our world.

We join the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in their clarion call to us as Women Religious to examine and address the root causes of racism, including our own complicity. We join our voices with all those calling for law enforcement reform and urge the Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

With audacious hope we hold fast to the belief that our loving God will give us the grace to profess and honor the dignity of every human being, to listen to our nation’s wounds, to firmly engage this struggle together, and to do our part to dismantle racism forever.