STATEMENT IN THE AFTERMATH OF AUGUST 26TH IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
Issued by the Together Strong Community Fund
Together, we represent the organization of our city. Our businesses, schools, and government, our congregations of faith and institutions of culture.
We are all races and ethnicities. We are gay and straight, believers and not, living together in this place we call home. Together, we are Jacksonville. We declare to those who doubt our resolve:
hate is not welcome here, love is.
We understand that our past is troubled, that our present is a work-in-progress,
that our future can be bright. Our promise, to ourselves and to the world, is to overcome the racism, bigotry, and hate we see in our midst. To face it head on, acknowledge and confront it,
to defeat it with purpose and determination.
We understand that words have power but that this time requires more of us
. It requires change: in what we say, how we listen, what we do. It requires change I the way we do business here so that we can move through our disagreements
with respect, dignity, and kindness.
We recognize that what we choose to support is a reflection of our priorities. We ask our leaders to invest in the people and programs needed to build a city that harnesses our diversity and collaborates across our differences.
Together, we pledge to do that work with each other.
Strong in our belief, our goal is to live in a place where diversity is valued as our strength and inclusion is our enduring commitment.
Together strong. Together Jacksonville.