SEATTLE – Archbishop Paul D. Etienne today issued a call to address racism in our hearts and community.

The May 25 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota was “traumatic and appalling,” the archbishop said in a May 29 statement. This and other encounters between police officers and black men expose the “deep-seated connection between institutional racism and the continued erosion of the sanctity of life,” he said. “If we do not respond appropriately as a society, we will be tacitly acquiescing to the ongoing killing of unarmed black men.”

“The fact that we were created in the image of God teaches us that each person is a living expression of God who must be respected and preserved and never dishonored,” the archbishop added. “Let us continue to pray and work together for the personal and societal conversions necessary to address the evils of racism.”

Read the full statement below.