Let us pray. Communities of color and those on the margin, we are tired, tired of the racism in our streets and structures, an open against you, taking the lives and denying the dignity of your children. We are called to mourn, to , and made the dead rest. May our acts of solidarity and justice with the living be a died. Al to those who have lord, bless our hurting nation. Bless and give peace to the families of george floyd and lost a son, ae daughter, father, mother, sister, brother, friend. Those who take to our streets to protest injustice. Give him encourage, wisdom, and respect for others. Bless all those who seek justice and peace when we have too little of both. Bless those called upon to protest. Give those in Law Enforcement eight commitment to equal justice for all, respect for the lives and dignity of all those who serve and protect from harm. Bless our leaders, give them wisdom, compassion, a thirst for justice. Help them bring us together to. Dvance bless all who are participating in the dialogue, give us strength and courage, open our eyes, fill our hearts with faith, hope and love in this time of testing. Send forth your holy spirit lord and renew the face of the earth, amen. Thank you, archbishop. We are honored to have the president of Georgetown University offer some opening reflections and then we will turn to what will be a lively and challenging discussion. Thank you, john. Over these past few months, as we have grappled with the impacts of covid19 in our andunity, our colleagues our initiative on catholic social thought and life led by john have helped six virtual gatherings to ensure that the resources of catholic social ,hought are present to us conversations on the Global Dimensions of the pandemic and moral challenges, policy issues, leadership of pope francis and the responses of our religious communities, reflections on the responsibility we have to one another and to the environment. I wish to express my appreciation to everyone who has gathered with us today for this important conversation. To our panelists, we are deeply grateful to you and to archbishop gregory, thank you for helping to open our gathering and for the wisdom, faith and commitment to service that you share with all of us. Privilege ofthe welcoming archbishop gregory to our campus three years ago when he was serving as archbishop of atlanta. This was a time during which our community had begun to focus our onention more intentionally issues of Racial Injustice and the perspectives and experiences being shared with us by members of our black community and the responsibility we have as a catholic and just with institution, as an institution with direct ties to the institution of slavery, to grapple with issues not only of social justice but Racial Justice. Joined byshop was another of todays panelists, shacklin, andha their moderator and john lewis. Together, they provided an extraordinary reflection on the responsibility we all have and the realities we face in confronting racism. In this moment, as we gather today with additional colleagues, Ralph Macleod and gloria purvis, we remain grateful for their insights and their leadership in raising issues of importance to all of thend helping us imagine community we hope to become and that we are striving to be. In recent weeks, we have witnessed many injustices. In recent weeks, we have witnessed many injustices. The killing of george floyd, breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery. We have seen instances of violence by police. We have been reminded of the impact of Health Disparities and the additional challenges that people of color face as part of their everyday lives. In these moments, we are reminded of the necessary work, urgent and important work of building a more just, fair and equitable society. This is a responsibility that all of us share. We share it here at georgetown. We share it because of our deep belief in the dignity of each person. We share because of our deep commitment to the common good, a belief that there is a good that we can achieve together, that we can never possibly achieve alone. It is a belief that we are all interconnected and that each one of us deserves to live in communities that enable the development of our full humanity. I offer these words of welcome and gratitude to our panelists and to all the members of our community who seek with us to embrace our responsibilities to one another and to the common good. Thank you. Thank you, president degioia. I would like to ask the thousands of people on this call to take a second and recall what you thought when you first saw the video of george floyd on the street in minneapolis. What went through your mind as you saw that . Lets take a second, each of us, and take a moment to think what did we see and how did we respond . What i have learned in these tough days is i need to listen and learn more. I am trying to think of who could help me learn. Who should i listen to . Who are the leaders in our Catholic Community . I am so pleased that we have archbishop gregory, the archbishop of washington, the professor in georgetown who has been a leader in so many respects, Ralph Macleod, gloria purvis, i would like to ask each of you to tell us what went through your heart and mind when you saw that video . Lets begin with ralph. Thank you you for the question. I recall becoming physically sick, almost to the point of fainting and passing out. As i thought about it, it occurred to me that this was a deja vu moment, a moment where we saw one more time where a person at the hands of Law Enforcement for no other reason but being black was being killed and murdered. It appeared the person did not fear any consequences because he did it in the light of day and did it in front of his colleagues who were also in Law Enforcement who did not assist. It kind of affirmed in a way for me the protection that the system has for those persons who abuse folks for no other reason than because of their race. I remember feeling angry and frustrated and feeling an alltoofamiliar feeling ive been feeling for the last 1520 years and it was painful, very painful. Gloria, could you unmute yourself and tell us what went through your heart and head . Reliving a trauma right now, talking about it. When i watched it, i remember saying stop in the name of god, stop. Because this was so grievous to do this to another human being. I just thought the image of god is being abused right here in front of me. When he called out for his mama, that nearly broke me. It broke me to see a man call out in desperation. I felt like i could have pushed him off. I wanted to physically push him off and i felt my hands pushing but to no avail. That kind of helplessness, that kind of crippling helplessness in the face of such a brutal act against another human being has greatly disturbed me and i dont think i will ever forget it. For people who are prolife and dont yet understand it, let me put it to you like this its like watching an abortion being performed and you can do nothing. That should be horrifying and upsetting to anybody. I prayed to god. I said what have we become, please have mercy on us. Archbishop gregory . To tell you the truth, john, when i saw the event, i had a collage of feelings. One of which brought me back to my own childhood when, as a youngster, i was taken to the viewing of emmett till. As a youngster, being overwhelmed by the awful event and also, it was one of those moments that, as a young, black man, now black person, really, parents had to give you the talk. How do you perform, how do you respond, how do you behave when you are in such a precarious situation . I thought also of the other events that have taken the lives mr. Fricanamericans arbery, obviously mr. Floyd, we know that Michael Brown it brings back a whole collage of individuals who have been assassinated and assassinated for no other reason than the color of their skin. Marcia. I have not watch the entire video. Because we are broadcasting to thousands of people i dont know, i dont feel comfortable sharing a complex trauma with them, but this is what i do know i think a lot about people like sister Helen Prejean talk about the Death Penalty and their decision to bear witness to victims of state sanctioned violence. I think about the fact that we are living in an era where everyday people at any moment, just because they are in the presence of a person of color, may witness someones last day of life. As someone who has lost family members recently, i think about the beauty and power of bearing witness to the end of someones journey on earth, and i think about how we are all able to witness that, and at the same time witness being indifferent to allow death to come that way. I think that in this moment i recognize the power of people who are actually with someone on that journey when the state has determined that they are disposable and they should die in a spectacular way because that means that was on that mans neck was weighted by all of the systems that have sanctioned that behavior and all of the people who depend on that behavior in order to secure their own personal property as well as their status in society. Thank you for those personal and powerful feelings. Painful thoughts. I grew up about a mile and a half from where george floyd died. I was struck by archbishop gregorys comment. My parents never thought they had to tell me how to protect myself. We may live in the same city but we dont live in the same world. Let me turn to archbishop gregory. Everybody knows archbishop gregory. He is our archbishop in washington, we are so blessed to have him. Its been a tough time in washington in lots of ways. He was archbishop of atlanta. He grew up in illinois, he wanted to be a priest before he was actually a catholic. You know lots of these stories. One thing you may not know is the new letter on racism was archbishop gregorys idea, and he fought for that. Apparently, you made a statement sometime over the last couple of days thats gotten a lot of attention, and a journalist friend of mine came to me and said, why did he make this statement . We will talk about that in a minute, but what i said to her was you have to read the two other statements he made about the murder of the young man in georgia and the death of the man in minneapolis. In those statements, in the middle of a global pandemic, you called racism a virus. When you were at georgetown for the session, you said we have to learn to talk about the r word. Why do you describe racism as a virus which we need to confront and talk about . I use that phrase because obviously, throughout the world, we are grappling with a virus. Its a good image to remind us that there are things that impact our lives that frighten us, but also come in silent and oftentimes undiscoverable ways. We are very much concerned, as well we should, with the coronavirus. How did it develop . How is it passed on . Is there a response that will protect us . Those are exactly the same questions that we need to ask about racism. How is racism this silent but this silent but deadly virus passed on to other people . Is it learned at home . Is it transmitted through our structures . Is it a part of the air that we breathe . And, how do we find a vaccine . How can we protect ourselves . How can we render it ineffective . I think its an apropos image in a moment when we are all thinking about a virus that threatens us. Lets talk about your statement. You were disturbed by President Trumps visit to the john paul center. People might ask why and what roles were you speaking . Why did you take that step . To be perfectly honest, when i saw the event take place at st. Johns, and the preparatory activity, i said this is awful. This is the use of a sacred place, a sacred, symbolic place to be used as a political ploy. I didnt think it was appropriate especially at the pope john ii, Pope John Paul ii shrine because he was a man of incredible concern about the dignity of human beings. His whole life, long before he became the supreme pontiff, he was battling systems that were intended to destroy, weaken or certainly deny human dignity. That shrine is a holy place because of the man that it honors, and it should never have been used as a place for a political statement. John . The five most common words in washington are, you need to unmute yourself. You were there when Pope John Paul ii in st. Louis called all of us to confront the plague of racism. And peaceful protest is how he and his allies brought down communism. Let me turn to marcia if i could. Marcia, you are a professor here at georgetown and youre one of the most popular professors. You are in the History Department and the africanamerican studies department. You wrote a wonderful book, you have a new book, a fascinating book called franchise, about mcdonalds and the black community. You were on the slavery memory and Reconciliation Committee to help georgetown begin to confront our complicity in racism. You, with others created resources let me get this right the ferguson syllabus and worked on a project after the death of freddie gray. You are one of the people that helped me know what i dont know. My question is, what are we missing in the commentary . What you talk about as far as Economic Life in the black community and the focus on black men but you focus on black women. What is it about this crisis that we dont understand and that conventional wisdom misses . I think what we are failing to recognize is that what is happening in america isnt simply about racism because racism needs other counterparts in order to grow and feed itself. This is also a referendum on capitalism. The fact that people in the middle of the pandemic are without the resources they need. Its about the economic inequality, its about the fact that we have allowed a certain segment of the population to brutalize others without accountability. What we are seeing in all 50 states and around the globe is a referendum about capitalism, colonialism and White Supremacy. These conversations about things like Police Reform or people just need businesses and their committee and they will be fine, misses the point. This is about a series of interconnected systems and the fact that our Public Resources go toward a group of people that terrorize others in order for people to feel safe or to protect their own resources is the fundamental problem. The Catholic Church in the United States knows everything that needs to happen to solve this problem, but there is no political will and no desire because racism allows for some peoples Property Values remain high, it allows some schools to remain prestigious and others to remain under resourced. In this moment, the idea that there is something new to learn is exasperating because if you think about it this way, if you are 6. 5 years old in the United States, you have already lived through two major racial uprisings. What happens when you are 30 and 40 and 50 . If there is no real reckoning with all of the systems that has that allow this to happen, and there is a large portion of this population that depends on moments like this to continue in order to keep their power. I am at a loss right now of how much more sophisticated this discourse can get. My last book was about the past 50 years of state failure in black communities. If you go back 100 years and you look at the Riot Commission of 1919, what are black people saying . Police brutality, not enough jobs, poor schools for kids, lack of health care, terrorism by our White Brothers and sisters. If weve had a hundred years to learn this lesson, i dont know what will make this moment different. Thank you. Very much for that powerful indictment, really. Ralph, youre director of the Catholic Campaign for human development, which was born in response to what people would call the riots in 1968. It tries to help people lift themselves up and defend their own dignity in their own communities. You have been a City Council Person and i believe mayor pro tem of fort worth. You have gotten lots of awards. I want to ask you how the coronavirus, how covid19 reflects the kinds of things that marcia was talking about. Everything we know says this virus has exacerbated the inequality and injustice in our society, and this is personal for you. I especially want to thank you for participating in this dialogue. You are recovering from covid19. You live in a house that have lost four priests that have died from covid19. Two of them in their 20s and 30s. If anybody thinks this is a hoax, they ought to talk to you and what you have been through. How are you feeling . Please convey our condolences to the paulists. And the josephites. In what ways does the coronavirus reveal the structures of injustice we are trying to focus on . Thank you, john. It is a pleasure to be with all of you this afternoon. In a way, it is too simple to say that the coronavirus is on coronavirus impacted in the health care facility, that health care is the only system that is impacted by it. Racism in and of itself does not operate in a vacuum. It operates in systems and structures that are contributing to a lot of the illness and a lot of the problems that we see in the Africanamerican Community. It is too simple to assume its just health care. Health care in the Africanamerican Community has been wellchronicled and discussed as being both unaffordable and inaccessible. Even when they were able to have testing, it was clearly africanamerican communities that were one of the last communities to have testing. They found testing for zoo animals and star athletes long before they were able to get equitable testing for africanamerican communities. Neighborhood housing in africanamerican communities would often times be overcrowded where social distancing will be impossible. It is extremely difficult. Racism and redlining has contributed to that for generations. Things like employment. The Africanamerican Community is overrepresented in the Service Industry and the industries and jobs that were considered essential, and often times, were only considered essential by the persons who were employees, often times considered essential by the employers themselves and the persons who would be affected by the bottom line. The environment africanamerican people will often live in communities more often than not where toxic waste exists. Where clean water is difficult to find. And the criminal justice system. We saw that in many prisons, including the one in fort worth, where several people died because they were clustered together after they tested positive for coronavirus. And finally, i think it is important to mention, and sister marcia alluded to this earlier, there is a degree of stress, a degree of trauma associated with being africanamerican in the year 2020, given all we have been experiencing, all that we see and hear. Its one thing to pick up a newspaper and read or see in the news, but when we commonly live it in our neighborhoods, our communities, our barbershops and beauty shops, in places were places where conversations get much deeper, and its something we have to deal with for 24 hours, seven days per week and looking at our neighbors and friends who are becoming victims of this terrible illness because there was neglect in health care and housing and neighborhoods and investment in communities, it becomes especially difficult. Thank you, ralph. How are you feeling . Much better. Much better. I am a little ways from running my first marathon but that wasnt on the agenda anyway. I want to turn to gloria. Gloria, you came from charleston, which had its own horrible racial killings. You went to cornell. You worked in the finance industry. But most of us know you for your work in the Prolife Movement and your presence on the ewtn morning glory. You are a leader in black catholics united for life. Let me say this, maybe politically incorrectly, some people see the cause of Racial Justice and the prolife cause as competitors in the Catholic Community and in political life. You have committed your life to proclaiming the gospel, to working for a culture of life. How do we demonstrate that black lives matter is a part of that . First of all, let me say that the Racial Justice movement and the Prolife Movement are not politics. It is not left, right, conservative or progressive. The movement is animated by the gospel imperative that we must defend the vulnerable and the oppressed. If you are coming into these movements from simply the political, then you have missed the point. You have made gods message too small. I feel the comfort in both Racial Justice and the Prolife Movement because it is about the human person. We are called to serve god in this way. Our movement for justice is animated by the gospel. Anything less is just that, it makes it less, it makes it hollow and empty. Lets start there. It is a gospel imperative. Number two, what we can do to make black lives matter is to make black lives matter. In other words, the call of this movement is to say we dont want the power of the state used against us. We are equal citizens as everyone else, and we do not want Police Brutality on our communities. This is a call of justice that everybody should be it were to get behind. Everybody should be able to get behind. Secondly, i want people to recognize that if you want to make black lives matter, you have to recognize the social conditioning that leads you to think of black people as less. It may be quite subtle. For example, i was reading an article in a catholic paper where the author takes great pains to defend a young man who used a racial epithet against black people. Took great pains to paint this child is innocent and this and that or the other. But took no time to talk about the egregious nature of the word. It tells catholics reading this that, oh, this is some casual thing that good people can do. But it did not at all address the real horror of what the word means. It makes god into a liar. The gospel says, we are made in his image and likeness. But when you call someone with that name, you are saying, no, god, they are not made in your image and likeness. This is what i will remake them into. They are speaking against god himself, and in those cases, they must always be rebuked because it is a lie from the pit of hell. Thats how you make black lives matter. You must realize the social conditioning that turns you away from the gospel message of recognizing jesus christ in your fellow brother and sister. Thank you, gloria, for your passion and your truth. I had a bunch of really good questions i had come up with but with that i thought we could have a really good discussion on. But we are being overwhelmed with questions from people. I want to go to those. One is from rosalind. Our Parish Ministry will be meeting this coming monday evening to discuss what concrete steps we might take in our parish. Mostly white, suburban, to foster Racial Justice. Can you provide suggestions . This is from christine i am a youth minister in a suburban parish. Andouth thrive authentically, tangibly connect with christ through service and social justice. What immediate steps can we take now . Lets start with marcia and go to archbishop gregory. Marcia i have spent the better part of six years going to churches and Catholic High Schools and grade schools and colleges and universities, talking about catholics and slavery and catholics and Racial Justice. I have come to the conclusion that the center of all of this is a kind of idolatry that has developed among Many American catholic communities where we fetishize the idea of social justice, we fetishize our prestigious schools, at the expense of realizing that if justice will come, it will cost us something. So the same people who are willing to march on washington for the march for life is bewildered by why people are taking to the streets right now streets right now for Police Brutality. The same people who were so curious about torch down are the same ones who were apoplectic when our students wanted to spend 54 per year for reparations. So, at this point, all i can say for people in this communities is to ask themselves, what have we benefited from this system of violence . Most people who are in this call or in those churches will not burn a cross in someones front yard, but they will go to extraordinary lengths to support candidates who dont want to share tax revenues to urban schools. They will degrade the black students who are in their childrens Catholic High School to the point where when i go talk to the schools, the parents are crying in front of me because they cannot believe how disrespectful they are. They are the same people that when i walk into the church, ask me what im doing there. So, at this point, this conversation has been had many times, but there has never been a Real Movement to say, what are we willing to pay . We have reaped so much from this system of inequality. What are we going to give back . If 54 can upend conversations about slavery and the reparations, then i dont think american catholics are ready to pay a real price to see a world they believe they are ready for. John archbishop gregory. Archbishop gregory john, i am very proud to say that here in the archdiocese, there are a number of conversations going on right now among our priests, our people in our parishes to figure out what is an appropriate response. I think marcias impassioned description says it. We really do have to ask the question, what can we do and what will it cost us . The fact that our people are asking that question now in increasingly large numbers. I think, having witnessed in my life the number of these pivotal moments, and i think they have been pivotal moments, which sparked hope the passage of the civil rights legislation sparked hope. The election of the first africanamerican president sparked hope. What i think we are witnessing now, i hope in my heart, and i have to hope because to be the pastor of this community, i have to maintain some hope. And try to transmit some hope. But what i am hopeful for is that this is a different transition moment. If you look at the faces of so many of the protesters, the quiet, gentle, peaceful protesters, they are white faces. There are many more white faces involved in this response than i ever saw before. And that gives me a spirit of hope that somehow, this is more than just a passing moment. I pray that its more than just a passing moment. Thank you. Unmute yourself. We cant hear you. What did you say, john . John gloria, such an important question, lets hear from you and ralph, too. Gloria honestly, i think repentance and belief in the gospel, what does it require . It requires an examination of conscience. Do we even know what racism even is . Do we understand that its race plus power plus prejudice . The ability to act against someone else because of your power and position in society. Can we repent of that . Can we ask the lord to show us . I do believe when people approach the lord in sincerity and say to him, please show me my brokenness because i want to repent of it, he will do that. Thats the one concrete thing these people in these parishes have to do. They need to have an examination of conscience, maybe a communal one. Please do go to confession and confess where you have recognized, participated, or been quiet about racism. Let me give you an example. I know of a lady in a parish in florida, prolife, black woman. When president obama came to office, all sorts of racist jokes about the first family were shared among the prolife listserv. No one spoke out and said, stop. She finally did because she was appalled. The jokes stopped but she doesnt know if they stopped, or they just removed her from the joke. Those kind of things, we know what we say when we are among ourselves. Repent of it and believe in the gospel. That is a concrete thing you can do. John well, we have a bishop on the call. We asked about parishes and he asked what the bishops conference can do. Ralph i think we can be more proximate to the pain. I think often times, because of a lot of reasons, including social media, we insulate ourselves and figure out ways that we might be able to make the pain of our brothers and sisters remote. And something that we dont see. I continue to be surprised at the surprise. I am surprised that people were surprised at the high rates of the coronavirus among africanamerican people given the fact of the Health Disparities and the health neglect. That people would be surprised that a pandemic would have that kind of implication. I am surprised that people would still be surprised to see a Law Enforcement officer in full view, with several Law Enforcement officers watching him, brutally, brutally kill someone, and people be surprised at that. To the degree they become more proximate, become closer to the pain, acknowledging that we dont know it all, and the reality of often times, we just do lip service for social justice. We know the principles but we havent been able to accompany and be close to experiencing pain. John archbishop gregory, we have lots of comments thanking you for your leadership and standing up for our principles and saying the photo op in front of the statue of Pope John Paul ii was not appropriate. But others ask questions. It seems in many ways our church is coming together across racial, ethnic and ideological lines. The political lines are pretty tough and the walls are pretty high. What would you say to those that said you were acting in a partisan way instead of as a pastor . And maybe others want to weigh in on this . You need to unmute yourself, bishop. Archbishop gregory john, that criticism, and there have been some criticisms and some harsh ones, they are reminiscent in my mind to the criticisms that people gave to catholic priests and nuns they saw marching during the civil rights period. They said, oh, you shouldnt be in the political arena, you should be in church. The church lives in society. The church does not live behind the four doors of the structures where we warship. Where we worship. I think thats a key challenge of pope francis, to get out of the four walls and get out into the world, and make a difference. Proclaim the gospel, as gloria has said so effectively, beyond the four walls. Those things have come to my attention. I would also like to say and thank the hundreds of people who have written and said thank you. They dont know me. I dont know them. But somehow, this moment has brought us into a communication that i hope, again, will result in some personal change, again, following what gloria said, but also some systemic change. Right now people are talking about racism in situations that heretofore we didnt hear that conversation. The corporate world, the world of athletes, the academic world i think people realize that if we dont work together, we will, i believe, miss perhaps the most significant moment for Real National transition that i have experienced. John marcia, do you want to weigh in . Marcia if i could say two things that give me an incredible sense of promise in this iteration of this conversation, in this moment in which we see racial terrorism unfold. One is a very serious conversation about policing, and not in the sense that policing reform is the answer, because there was a time people thought body cameras would stop the excess violence, and people just turned off the cameras. Instead, people are saying what does this mentally mean . What does it mean for the church to say that we no longer want to have catholics provide the funding for this type of state violence, and that the funding and that defunding and dismantling is actually a real possibility . Every time a catholic turns their nose or turns away from these new visions of the world, they are saying i have no faith. Because whatever i am trying to protect right now is giving me my comfort. If we are people of faith, and i said this in conversations about reparations, then we would be willing to liquidate every asset a church has and walk and build anew because we move on faith. If you cant say that in the public sphere because people are fearing opinions, thats fine. But if catholics among each other lack so much faith that they cant imagine another world possible, then the church has failed on a larger scale than we first imagined. The second thing i want people to do is to understand that although the names of mostly men have been amplified in this, the violence and terrorism that is meted on women with lossoflife and sexual violence, as well as transgendered people in terms of putting people in more perilous positions when they are in police custody. But this is also part of the fight and those who do not see it are also suffering. We have been presented with a gift with the movement for black lives matter is it is raising the consciousness and pushing the faith of people to see and believe the Something Else as possible. John thank you very much. Archbishop gregory, i know that the knights of columbus thank you for your leadership, saying that you were their voice. There are dozens and dozens of questions. One question that is sort of more skeptical is about the protests, and whether they are motivated by a thirst for Racial Justice or by Something Else. Secondly, whether they run the risk of exposing lots and lots of people to the pandemic. Ralph or others, what is your sense . What are these protests about, and what do you say to those who suggest there are other things at work . Maybe gloria, you have your hand up. Gloria i think the protests are clearly about Police Brutality that we all witnessed george floyd experience. And i believe that people know the covid virus is out there, and that ought to tell you how seriously they have taken the issue that they are risking exposure to this virus because of the grave injustice to their fellow brother in christ. Another human being. Lets go back a few weeks, there were protests in michigan. People who broke the quarantine and went armed to the State Capitol because they no longer wanted to stay in their homes and be subject to the quarantine. When you see murder on television, how much more so do people take to the streets . Especially people who are motivated by the gospel that they would be willing to risk it, risk themselves getting it and go to the streets over this grave injustice that happened in our world . We are saying no more. No more of that. I do believe that is what motivates them. You may have some other people who are trying to cause problems. Lets not lose sight of the real issue. Lets not focus on these ancillary things. The real issue is that a human being had his life snuffed out by the very state that is paid to protect and serve. That is what black lives matter means. We want to be able to walk and live and breathe and move unencumbered and unfearful, without fear like everybody else. That is what the movement is about. Do not deflect from that core cause onto these ancillary things, while important, are not we talk about the hierarchy of threats, lets not deflect to the things that are less of a threat to human life than the direct murder by the state against the citizens. Thats what the march is about. John ralph, do you want to take on the dimension of this that has to do with the virus . Thats something you have been dealing with. How do we respect the lives of all people in the setting . Ralph we were out there marching, and i think it is a cumulative effect, this is just of the most recent time weve been out there marching. But there is a sense of hope that each time we are out there, whether it was for Michael Brown or sandra bland, those folks who engendered or elicited a sense of anger or frustration also is an opportunityd for hope. They hoped this might be the last possible time. I think folks are fully aware of the virus and the possibilities of catching the virus much like the folks in the 60s who had already filled out their wills before they decided they would come and march and protest down in the south. They knew that death and danger was a possibility but its more important to them than sitting at home and doing nothing about it. John where does politics fit in this . We are in the middle of an election year. Our leaders, you know, where are our leaders . I had the great honor of working for Coretta Scott king and we had an Incredible Group of people in so many places. Archbishop gregory has stepped up but not many others, frankly. You look at politicians and you look at media and you look at business and the rest. Where do we find leadership, and what role does politics have to do in this . Obviously, it is central. But give us some advice in an election year. Marcia i would say that if we are serious about these changes, that we understand that we cant simply say that only people who are voting are the ones that matter. Because what happened is we have a society that caters to a fictional middleclass and this idea of getting votes. So the leadership is each and every day a person puts a mask on and takes a risk to go on the street, those are our leaders. Right . I think what we have seen is how dangerous it is that we think we can step away from politics. Donald trump is a disgrace not because he is a disgrace, but because he has been allowed to be a disgrace for so long. And no one has said any boundaries or challenge of behavior in the interest of marketplace of ideas from both sides. That is a disgusting and appalling thing. Donald trump for decades has been a disgrace. And White America has decided that White Supremacy is more valuable than anything else so they allow this chaos to happen in order to be ruled by him. So all i can say is, think about how much you are willing to allow the suffering of others to stand in order for you to get a tax cut. Its the most disgusting thing that, i hope its the most disgusting thing that i witness in my lifetime. Thats where politics are right now in this country. John gloria. Gloria i would say that if you are looking for a political leader to help you fulfill the gospel, you will always be disappointed. Its the truth. I would say, both parties have their flaws, tremendous flaws. One cannot deal with respecting life in the womb. The other isnt truthful about what it means to be human. I think both sides we need to condemn and critique. And realize what you are following when you vote is following jesus. And realize that you will stand in front of him one day and you will have to answer not only for what you did, but what you did not do. While i understand what sister marcia is saying, i am also understanding that people need to speak truth to power and we need to hold our politicians accountable to the values we hold. We can do things to demand what it is and vote locally. And please know that just about every diocese in the United States has a catholic conference that is a lobby for that diocese. Get involved with the catholic conference. Tell them what your issues are and what you want them to advocate and lobby about. John thank you. Ralph . Ralph i will take the question of politics to a different level. Not better or worse, but the old idea of organizing, Community Organizing and coming together, and identifying issues that are affecting people in their local communities. The whole notion of president ial politics is one conversation but i think the politics related to School Boards and city council elections, transportation authorities, the folks who are making decisions that will affect your life on a daily basis that are also consistent with trying to bring forth some gospel values as well. In terms of life. Things like Police Review boards and Public Safety on local levels, to advocate on behalf of those in a pure political way that is not necessarily associated with electoral politics in the president ial and statewide area. John archbishop gregory. Archbishop gregory i think the church needs to remember that too close an alignment with any one Political Party weakens our prophetic capacity. As gloria said, there is no Political Party that is completely aligned with the churchs social justice teaching, the teaching of the gospel. When you get too close to anyone any one party, you lose the capacity to speak the gospel truth to everyone. And its a lesson that we have forgotten over time. People forget that once constantine made the church an official part of the roman empire, it was increasingly difficult for the bishops to criticize constantine. And throughout the middle ages, when we aligned ourselves to kings and emperors, it made it difficult for us to call the king or the emperor, the queen empress, to task for violating the mission of the truth and the teaching of the gospel. John i am reminded that in the bishops faithful citizenship document, it talks about intrinsic evil and threat to human life are a part of that. At the center of that. Racism is also identified as an intrinsic evil. And this is an election where we need to focus on that as well. We know we have thousands of people on this call, we know they are from all over the world. I did not know that we have viewers in the vatican, our friend Cardinal Turkson sent in a note and said, can i say a word . I think most of you know the cardinal, i think i have seen more of him in the last few weeks than i have seen of my grandchildren. I am pleased with that, but i would like to see my grandchildren. It is hard to tell a 2yearold you cant hug. Welcome, and thank you for watching our dialogue. As you might have heard, we have thousands and thousands of people. And to have someone who works so closely with the holy father, who has spoken out so specifically, so powerfully on racism and what our country is going through, we are just honored that you found time to join our dialogue. Its a big surprise but a good one. Cardinal turkson thank you, john, thank you to the panelists and sorry for the intrusion. I didnt want to be an intruder in your program. I just thought i could contribute a small thought. I just want to thank all of you for the talks that you have shared. I simply want to relate all of this to, to the words of scripture. The story of the human race in the book of genesis has two proverbs in the beginning. The first one was on disobedience and the second one was on fratricide, the killing of a brother. One was disobedience of god, one was the rejection of gods plan that humanity be based on brotherhood. Cain and abel. So that when cain said, am i my brothers keeper . The rejection of gods plan to build humanity based on brotherhood became a very crucial sin. And this was happening at the beginning of the human race, it just says a lot to us. So that if we relate christ coming to Save Humanity with reconciling us to god, we must tag onto the work of christ also the theme of healing brotherhood. Jesus said, i dont call you friends anymore, i call your brothers. Therefore it is not for nothing that jesus said i do not call you friends anymore, i call you brothers. This is the point of christs active salvation, to restore brotherhood, which was destroyed by many forms of identification, part of which is racism, for which people find ways to reject one or the other. The call for reconciliation and justification in christ is also the healing of our relationship. More basically, the relationship of brotherhood. Accepting one another as a brother as gods plan intended for all of us. The second thing i would like to say, and not take too much more of your time, is that bishops from parts of africa, ghana, nigeria, for a long time, bishops from africa and parts of the southern globe have related the experience of, while they like to encourage young catholics to leave home and come study in europe and in the United States, they also deplore that most of these students leave home catholic and they come back evangelicals. Studies show that when they come over here, the difficulty of acceptance, integration into some catholic communities quickly drives them into the fold of evangelical movements and groups where either they congregate among themselves as african communities or whatever. So the thing about feeling welcome in some of our traditional churches over here is an issue. A big concern for bishops and pastors in our part of the world. They leave as catholic and come back noncatholic. They say, while we were there, we could not go here and we could not go here. We had to find fellowship in our african brotherhood. So i just thought i would share this small concern that some pastors and bishops in some of these countries have. And i thank you for giving me a john cardinal, your expression of solidarity and your global perspective is a blessing to us. Please tell pope francis we are so grateful for the way that he has stood up for the rights and dignity of all and the pastoral concern he has expressed her our country. I never thought i would see a pope tweet about a young man in minneapolis who lost his life as an expression of a denial of the dignity of all gods children. S an expression of a denial of the dignity of all gods children. Thank the holy father, and thank you. We are going over a little because we have so much interest. I would like to have each of our one sign ofve us hope in the middle of this very tough time, and one concrete action, because i am struck by how many of the questions are, how can i learn, what can my parish do, what can seminaries do . One sign of hope, and one concrete action, and i will start with marsha. Hope, andget so much so much inspiration for the people who are day in and out in the streets. They have been undeterred by teargas, and threats of state violence. They have been undeterred by characterization that they do not understand what this is about. By everyonely moved who turns out the next day. I think the one concrete action for everyone after church on sunday, that your pastries and coffee, and i want everyone to sit down with their local budget and look at how much money is going into policing in schools, as well as how much money is being spent bringing in arms from the department of defenses program into their local policing and ask themselves if they want state violence to be done and their name. Gloria, one sign of hope and one concrete action. Gloria honestly, i feel like the lord is calling the entire nation to repentance, and i call it as a sign of hope, because he is saying speak my mercy now where it can be found. I believe the sign of hope i see is the lord calling the entire nation to seek his mercy and repentance, and we should do so. The other thing that people can concretely do, is to the adults about this. Biting the demon of racism is difficult and hard. Fighting the demon of racism and is difficult and hard. We need to examine our thoughts weor what held that demeaned our fellow brother and sister in christ. We need to be honest about that, and if you do not know about racism, please, the internet can be your friend. You can find places from a catholic perspective that talk dismantlingrks of racism. Listen to what they have to say, and listen to people of color. Well just do not come in with that, it is not about you right now, we need you to listen and commit to undoing whatever foothold the evil one has in your life regarding race that you will be reeling to do the work willing to do the work to expel it. John ralph . Ralph i am hopeful because of the young people who are relentless, who are out in the streets despite the virus, despite the dangers and the state sanctions security and have been out there nonetheless. I am inspired and hopeful because of the multicultural nature of it. Many cases, intergenerational, seeing young people in strollers and being picked up as episodes of hope. I would hate to live in a country in a time when we all saw what happened to george floyd and nothing happened, and we did not see the kind of outcry and the kind of public witness to that being something wrong. Do, ims of something to have a nephew who was paralyzed from being shot in the back by waspolice, whose only crime walking away from the police. Gloria mentioned when a mother looks at george floyd crying and lamenting, and calling on his deceased mother, that touched a lot of us a lot of different ways. It touched my sisterinlaw in a way, the mother of my nephew who is going to be paralyzed the rest of his life. It touched her in a different way. True, thect is opposite is true, if we are not aware of what is happening we will not be close to the situation at all. If we are able to be more attuned and to listen, and to be more concerned about what is happening with our brothers and sisters and to go across the Railroad Tracks to be with them as we struggle, and accompany them as they look for ways that they might be able to improve their lives, the neighbors, and the communities. I think that is something we can do, that is very simple and a lot of ways. John so powerful. Just to comment on the call for resources, which is echoed through the entire dialogue. We have posted on our website many resources with archbishop gregorys statement about what the holy father said. We had a wonderful article in the last couple of days. If you are looking out looking for a place to start, our website is a good place to start. Youbishop gregory, you said are a pastor of hope and a leader of action. Give us one sign of hope, and one concrete action. Archbishop gregory i think a big sign of hope, and i am echoing some of the thoughts of an other panelists, is the huge number of young people who have taken up this as a personal thisrn, the fact that particular dialogue has generated so many participants who take time that they could spend doing other things to be engaged in this conversation, and to hear and listen. Projectse concrete that i hope continues to develop, a group of my young priests have decided by zoom meeting to come up with proposals that they intend to implement in their own parishes. They are working wish with Bishop Roy Campbell as a moderator, although i suspect Bishop Campbell is laying it off a lot, because when you listen to young people, you learn an awful lot. They are energized, and i want to encourage them to continue that dialogue, and how they can pastor more effectively the people that they have been sent to serve. John thank you. I have listened and learned a lot. One sign of hope for me is the leaders on this call. Bishop, thet president of the university, but especially the lay leaders, marcia, floria, and ralph who and shown us gloria, ralph. They have sown that shown us wisdom. For me the exact the action is an examination of conscience. I do not look out my hometown the same way i used to. I worked for the archdiocese of washington, which has a great heritage, but we had segregated schools and segregated parishes and that legacy continues. I worked for the bishops conference and there are not enough africanamerican and latino bishops, and i am proud to be a part of georgetown, and yet i know that georgetowns very existence depended in part men, women,of 272 and children. We all have to look at our own ,ehaviors and change ourselves we have to change our communities, we have to change our country, and we have to change our church. I want to thank everybody who has made this possible, i want to thank our partners at the berkeley center, optima audio, daniels, there are they have justd done extraordinary work over in our time, but especially on this. The panel, i have already mentioned. One thing i want to say, especially for those on the line, we have an upcoming latino leaders gathering, this is something we do. We gather i want to end with the words of pope francis, who in his prayer and concern for us said, my friends, we cannot tolerate, nor turn a blind eye to racism, and exclusion in any form yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life. This is a time of testing. This is a time of crisis. I hope this conversation and the recommendations, and the concrete actions that have been offered move us to a time where we overcome racism, and exclusion in any form as our holy father is calling us to do. Thank you very much. Protests are now taking place across the country for Police Reforms after the death of george floyd in minneapolis while an officer with kneeling on his neck. Day of the ninth demonstrations in washington, d. C. , this one at the white house. And also on capitol hill. A number of roads have been closed in the Nations Capital limiting the routes that protesters can take. Here is a live look at what is happening near the white house. The Yellow Church is st. Johns Episcopal Church where President Trump held up the bible and in front of that is lafayette park, across the street from the white house now closed to the public