Uniting for Peace and Racial Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2020
CONTACT
Megan Schleicher | (202) 822-2047 | Megan@allianceforpeacebuilding.org
Photo Courtesy of +Peace
Washington, D.C., USA. – As a network of global peacebuilders, the Alliance for Peacebuilding mourns and condemns the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other victims of the scourge of systemic racism and police abuses. Peace without justice is not possible. Promoting peace requires resolute and unwavering anti-racism; there is no middle ground. We stand with all those demanding justice, accountability, and human security for Black Americans that has been denied since the founding of the United States.
We are also witnessing violent crackdowns against peaceful protesters and threats from national leaders to use active duty military forces to quell demonstrations. Nonviolent action is a core element of peacebuilding, and the right of peaceful protest is a both a universal human right and a bedrock of American democracy. We call upon Federal, State, and local authorities to de-escalate and de-militarize their responses to ongoing demonstrations and listen to their citizens’ demands. We welcome former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen’s recent statement that he does not support the use of active duty forces to respond to ongoing unrest and urge the US government to refrain from invocation of the Insurrection Act.
While the complexity of grievances and solutions may seem overwhelming right now, we need to focus on de-escalation of violence and, at the same time, begin to immediately and meaningfully address the drivers of violent conflict in the United States. An urgent, multi-sectoral approach is needed to address the root causes of this crisis: systemic and systematic racism driving economic, educational, social, and environmental inequality for Black Americans and preventing their access to equal protection under the law. Additionally, the disproportionate and devastating impact of COVID-19 on Black communities nationwide further underscores the depth to which racism undermines American peace and security. In this troubled context, the United States must act swiftly to address criminal justice reform and shift funding from militarized policing towards citizen-led violence prevention, community development, health and mental health programs.
In the wake of this ongoing crisis, AfP members are working to mobilize against oppression, undo institutionalized racism, advance criminal justice reform across political divides, call for comprehensive policy responses from law enforcement to education, and offer trauma healing and resilience to communities in need. In solidarity with racial justice organizations nationwide, we will build offramps to violence at the community, state and national level and champion much needed policy reforms to dismantle structural racism and injustice in the United States. We remain unrelenting and impatient in rejecting racism and bending the American moral arc towards justice for all its people.
Uzra Zeya, President and CEO
Alliance for Peacebuilding