The Board of the ISSRNC grieves for the loss of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor – two more deaths among the now countless black people who have died simply because of the color of their skin. Finding the right words is not easy and words alone cannot undo America’s long history of racism and racial violence. We stand with all communities of color in mourning their loss. Black Lives Matter!
Those of us working at the intersections of religion, nature, and culture – and who recognize the intersectionality required by that work – have a special obligation to continue exposing the institutional patterns of racial injustice. The toxic and inherited worldviews characterized by white supremacy, anti-black racism, and antisemitism persist specifically because the systemic character of prejudice actively conceals this cancer from easy access and remediation.
As a matter of social, political, and personal responsibility, we hold that each of us must reflect deeply on how we can have an impact on the awareness of our friends, neighbors, students, and colleagues. We are all educators in one way or another. With this in mind, we invite those in the field of religion and ecology to revisit their course syllabi to include effective anti-racism components. Our members are encouraged and invited to share their work through the ISSRNC website. The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion offers vast resources to this end.
But exposing these features of society is not enough and understanding a problem is not the same as solving it. It is not enough to understand the world, one must also strive to change it. What is required is not simply a change in attitude, although that is certainly a start, but in addressing and remediating the material conditions that foster, create, and nourish these injustices.
The ISSRNC is committed to acting on these principles. All future conferences are scheduled to include sessions on the intersection of race and environmental injustice and the board is determined to continue our efforts to increase diversity across the leadership and among our members.
These are first steps, but we pledge ourselves to continue bending the arc of the moral universe towards justice.
ISSRNC Board of Directors
