GBCNJ Presidential Response to Buffalo Shooting ~ May 2022
The General Baptist Convention of New Jersey joins the torrent of voices once again calling out the ongoing evil in our country that is white supremacy. This ideology festers, propagates, and results in a long list of racially motivated murders. The most recent heinous incident took place in Buffalo, NY, perpetrated, once again, by a young white male whose dangerous mental health issues, seemingly ignored due to his skin color, led to the horrendous tragedy. It was the result of the racial hatred bred and formed in the caldron of the artificial construct of American whiteness.
We mourn the horrendously senseless loss of the lives of those Buffalo residents going about their normal weekend routine. We reaffirm their humanity and the dignity of all Black and brown peoples, and indigenous brothers and sisters everywhere who are consistently dehumanized, stigmatized, and subjected to this nation’s unspeakable horrors.
We pray that God would provide peace of mind to the families and survivors who were terrorized and traumatized and who are now living in the aftermath of this all too commonplace tragedy in a land that refuses to acknowledge its wicked and immoral past. Instead of addressing the need to make amends to the descendants of those who were expressly exploited for financial gain, they choose to defend white privilege in order to protect the mythos of white superiority.
More than our moral support, let us ready ourselves to listen and respond to the call to action from our God in this moment. In the face of this persistent inequity and injustice, we must not remain silent. We echo the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “One who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as one who helps perpetuate it. One who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
Let’s be clear. Racism and white supremacy are truly Euro American-perpetuated evils that have continued for too long. We cannot ignore the fact that the complicit reinforcement comes from those who sit idly by and those who continue to give over to the enslavement mentality.
The General Baptist Convention of New Jersey hereby resolves to protest and fight vigorously against these tribulations, not only to expose but to eradicate them. Now is the time we must look to that greatest social justice warrior whom we call JESUS THE CHRIST and follow His example to stand firm and fight courageously against white racism that endorses and encourages bias, prejudice, discrimination, and unfairness. Left unchecked all of us will live fearfully in expectation of the next bloodbath.
