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Realizing that words have consequences, the San Francisco Interfaith Council is discerning and deliberate when issuing public statements. Only once in its 36-year history has it issued a resolute condemnation of an action of the United States Government. That public statement was issued on January 7, 2021, a day after the violent attacks on the United States Capitol, during Congress' certification of the Electoral College votes.
Just as that event profoundly traumatized our nation, the blatant overreach and abuse of force by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that has terrorized and instigated fear in the hearts and souls of our Nation's people, culminating in the killings of United States citizens, 43-year-old family man of color Keith Porter on New Year's Eve in Northridge, California, mother of three and award winning poet Renee Good and intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in the span of just two weeks, has justifiably given rise to mass protests there and everywhere in opposition to our government's gross violation of the rights of freedom of speech, assembly and protest enshrined in the United States Constitution.
Not the least of those leading this movement are the countless faith leaders whose hearts and souls are being moved by the moral compass of their traditions and powerfully expressed in the face of the present injustices. Fifteen faith leaders from San Francisco joined the masses at the recent Minneapolis protest while their fellow clergy took to the streets of our City, vocally and in solidarity, leading the parallel protests here.
More sobering was Bishop A. Richard Hirshfield of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire's urging to all clergy engaging in this sacred effort to finalize their wills and prepare for a "new era of martyrdom" amid heightened tensions and violent clashes between protestors and ICE. His words were not hyperbole, but prophetic wisdom in this present dystopian reality.
The images of these unfettered and unchecked acts of fear-mongering, violence and murder on the part of the United States Department of Homeland Security, being implemented by ICE, cannot be unseen. They are traumatizing our Nation, sowing seeds of division and seriously damaging the integrity of and faith in the treasured principles of American democracy, both here and abroad.
As such, the San Francisco Interfaith Council condemns these dangerous operations, violence toward US Citizens that resulted in the ICE killings in Northridge and Minneapolis and calls for immediate and sweeping changes in US Department of Homeland Security policies and conduct. Here we call for suspension of specific ICE operations, independent investigations, leadership accountability, and moratoriums on crowd control tactics.
Repeating, verbatim, the hopeful words that brought the SFIC's post-January 6th Statement to a conclusion, "At the dawn of this new day, with all of its hopes and possibilities, we implore people of faith to fervently pray for peace and unity in our nation, and may those prayers, actualized in our civility and kindness toward one another, bring healing to our nation."
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