GC Statement on Last Week’s Violence
Our response to recent tragedies
The past week in our democracy has been a trying one. From pipe bombs sent for political purposes to an attempted shooting at the First Baptist Church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, to Saturday morning’s massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the worst anti-semitic attack in US history. Students and teachers across the country, like all of us, have witnessed the tragedies unfold with a sense of horror, outrage, and lament. What has become of a country where this hatred and violence are almost commonplace?
Generation Citizen believes that our democracy works best when all voices are at the table. We also believe that a democracy can only function when there is a peaceful interplay of ideas, deliberation, and, ultimately, decision-making. All of this stems from and is possible because of mutual respect for all people who live in this democracy, regardless of their race, creed, religious status, sexual orientation, gender, or other affiliations.
This past week called into question this basic value system. We are seeing individuals being attacked because of their place of origin. Because of their religion. Because of their race. Because of their political affiliation. It is difficult to separate this vitriol from the rhetoric that comes out of our senior most elected officials in Washington, DC. It is difficult, further, to acknowledge this vitriol without also noting its origins in a weaponized form of white identity with deep historical roots in this country. This is not an antiquated call for civility. It is a call for rejecting anti-semitism, and anti-black violence, and instead recognizing a different, and nobler dimension of our history which we have affirmed in our best moments, the conviction that all persons are created equal.
As a national civics education organization, our board, staff, and stakeholders have leaned into the nexus of equity, inclusion, and civics education. Realizing the democracy we articulate in our organizational vision requires a commitment not only to civic action, but also civic disposition — an abiding respect for the inherent dignity and unique lived experiences of persons of color, people of faith, and people of conscience. This social underpinning of democratic culture, which seems to be slipping through our fingers, is capable of being renewed. We condemn the varieties of racism present in our culture, and we also look forward to working with our school, community, and advocacy partners to undertake the difficult, essential labor of renewing the social underpinnings of our democracy.
Today, as all days, our thoughts are with our students. We are confident that they can guide us, and our democracy, to a better place by instilling their faith, and ours, in the basic creed and value system that defines our common American narrative. Right now, our young people need us to provide stability, and we need them to provide hope for a better future.
