Like many of you, I watched the news stories following the killing of George Floyd in police custody with horror, sadness and outrage over the brutality shown to this man, and grief and frustration over the racism that continues to infect our society.
We mourn together as a community and raise prayers for the Floyd family and friends. We also must acknowledge the pain of colleagues, friends and other members of the black community, who bear the burden of racism in ways that are personal, deep and persistent. I join Father John in saying that I am sorry for the pain and the hardship of that burden in your lives and the lives of those you love.
As a community and as individuals, we must do better in addressing issues of racial justice, diversity and inclusion, based on the universal and inviolable human principle of the inherent dignity of every person.
Professor Viva Bartkus recently wrote a Mendoza Business magazine essay about finding solutions to seemingly intractable society problems in the context of how she teaches Business on the Frontlines students:
“First and foremost, we must acknowledge at a very fundamental level that our society’s most pressing problems cannot be solved only by business or government or charities or even just by those who agree with us. The solution to difficult problems lies in the common ground we imagine and then create together.
Second, we must recognize the value of dialogue in society. We must be willing to engage in conversation with those whose perspectives, life experiences, opinions are different from our own. From those discussions, sprout the early ideas that, after much work, become potential solutions.
Third, through the process of reflection, we must be willing to reevaluate honestly and comprehensively our own perspectives as we gain new information. Future progress depends on such ongoing reassessments of what we actually think.
Therefore, perhaps the most important thing that I or any one of us can do at this time is listen with open hearts and minds to those who suffer. We must also commit to educating ourselves and engaging with those who are different from us, with different experiences and world views, precisely in order to seek understanding and find common ground."
This idea is reinforced in Notre Dame Law School Dean Marcus Cole’s profoundly moving essay, “I Am George Floyd.” Dean Cole writes:
“One thing that each and every one of us can do is to end the cycle of hate by ending the separation that leads to it. This racial separation and violence will not end until we stop waiting for African-Americans to enter our circles. Each of us needs to get to know people who differ from us. We must all make a conscious decision and effort to expand our circles.”
Dean Cole ends his essay with a challenge for each of us to do three things to change the world for the better. I will be discussing this challenge with our associate deans, department chairs and directors. I also ask you for your direct input and ideas for how we can better address issues of racial justice, diversity and inclusion in the College, to which I am very much committed. Please email me directly.
As I think that God’s help is necessary above all, I will end with a prayer to overcome racism that I thought was quite beautiful and invokes the intercession of Mary, Notre Dame:
Mary, friend and mother to all, through your Son, God has found a way to unite himself to every human being, called to be one people, sisters and brothers to each other.
We ask for your help in calling on your Son, seeking forgiveness for the times when we have failed to love and respect one another.
We ask for your help in obtaining from your Son the grace we need to overcome the evil of racism and to build a just society.
We ask for your help in following your Son, so that prejudice and animosity will no longer infect our minds or hearts but will be replaced with a love that respects the dignity of each person.
Mother of the Church, the Spirit of your Son Jesus warms our hearts: pray for us. Amen.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn