Dear *{{Informal Name}}*,

 

As people of goodwill across our country and around the world take to the streets to profess that Black lives are sacred and must not be violated with impunity, we draw strength knowing that the Christ who died for us can be found with those on the margins, struggling under the weight of oppression. We pray the awakening of conscience we see taking hold will speed the day when the chains of racism are finally loosed, and all can enjoy being free and equal, on earth as in heaven.

Urging Scrutiny & Reform of Police Practices

 

This week Justice Revival joined family members of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, and Philando Castile in calling for international scrutiny of racialized policing in the United States. In partnership with the U.S. Human Rights Network and global civil society, we urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to convene a special session to consider the pattern of police killings of people of color and the current repression of nationwide protests.

 

Justice Revival also signed on in support of the PEACE Act (HR 4359), which would bar federal law enforcement from using deadly force unless necessary—as a last resort—to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury, after reasonable alternatives have been exhausted. This bill includes incentives for states, municipalities, and police departments to adopt similar standards, in order to provide consistency on use of force at all levels. As detailed in our article last week on George Floyd’s right to life, such limits on police use of deadly force are warranted under human rights law.

Immigrant Rights Under Threat During COVID-19

 

People fleeing persecution, torture, and other human rights violations face immediate threats to their lives and their safety, but the Administration is using COVID-19 as an excuse to turn them away, denying their human right to seek asylum. This policy does not serve public health (in fact, asylum seekers from Central and South America are less likely to have the virus than U.S. residents); rather, it’s this administration’s latest excuse to demonize migrants.

 

And while the COVID-19 crisis continues to affect all communities, immigrant detainees (and other incarcerated people) are in special danger, because the U.S. is housing them in crowded facilities that make self-isolating impossible. The administration has also reportedly reverted to family separation, deporting some children without their caregivers.

 

Our faith compels us to stand in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors and take action to protect their health and human rights. The pushback of asylum seekers must stop and migrants should be allowed to quarantine safely with their families or in community-based programs, instead of being held in crowded detention facilities.

 

Justice Revival joined colleagues at the Interfaith Immigration Coalition in calling for the United States to restore asylum seekers’ and migrants’ human rights. We encourage you to sign the letter and call your representatives to ask that they protect and release immigrants in detention and restore asylum protections.

Welcome Graduate Summer Interns!

 

And lastly, we leave you with some very good news: Justice Revival is thrilled and grateful to welcome our two stellar graduate summer interns, whose arrival marks the beginning of our internship program.

 

Kimberley Gordy (left) just completed the first year of her Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary. She arrived there after eight years in higher education admissions and counseling, and her ministry interests include “chaplaincy and somatic psychology as vehicles to support healing from grief and trauma, particularly for members of oppressed communities.”

 

Kimberley says, “I see Jesus as a revolutionary whose ministry combatted inequities. I believe the church as a mobile body has the potential to become central to activism in ways yet unseen.”

 

Lindsey Kirchhoff (right) just finished year one at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law. Prior to law school, she served as a U.S. Air Force officer for eight years and earned a masters degree in philosophy at Boston College. Justice Revival's mission and vision align with Lindsey's desire to explore how restorative justice and peacemaking can bridge the divides facing our country.

 

Please join us in giving thanks for these skilled and talented new teammates. We hope you’ll help spread the word about our internship program among ministry and law students you know.

 

Wishing you the peace of Christ in such a time as this, and the strength of conviction to speak out for justice at every turn.

In faith, hope & love,

Allyson McKinney Timm

Founder & Executive Director

p.s. For those who will be marching in solidarity this weekend, hear the words of the late Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, from the first stanza of her “Psalm of Deliverance”:

 

Children of courage, we greet you!

Gentle warriors, we salute you!

 

Youthful veterans of upheaval,

Victims of mindless resistance,

 

We, the wounded and dead of former campaigns,

Unknown, unheralded, unribboned,

 

The nameless millions, native and migrant,

We are legion and we support you!

 

We hear your marching feet and rise,

Silently we walk beside you!

 

A Christian Voice for Human Rights