Dear Followers,

The National Lutheran Choir sends its deepest condolences to the family of George Floyd. George, you are a beloved child of God, your life mattered, and you should still be with us today. May you live on in the change your life has inspired.

The Christian Gospel instructs us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have failed. We failed George Floyd and we have failed countless other Black, indigenous, and people of color throughout history. That it took the murder of George Floyd to bring us to this moment of reckoning is shameful.

Leaders across our nation have made it clear that ALL of us must participate in the “slow and difficult work of constructing justice and fairness in our society” (Keith Ellison, MN Attorney General). No matter how slow or difficult we understand that every institution in society must take action to dismantle systemic racism.

The National Lutheran Choir pledges to listen, to learn, and to use our privilege and our voice to create a world in which we do indeed love our neighbors as ourselves. We pledge to look within, to make space for difficult conversations, to deconstruct the racism and barriers that keep us apart, and to build the bridges that make us better neighbors.

To begin, we will:

• Create a committee of Board, singers, and community members charged with helping us achieve more diversity, equity and inclusion;

• Invite our singers, Board, and staff to read and discuss at least one book this summer that raises our awareness about how systemic racism has shaped our world and how we can help dismantle it;

• Offer ongoing training in racial justice, equity and inclusion.

We know this is just a beginning, and we have so much more work to do. But we pledge to begin where we are.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” We are not silent. Our voices ring out in love.

The National Lutheran Choir