Dear Ambrosians,
As members of a university which has valued and promoted the God-given worth and dignity of every person since its founding, all of us at St. Ambrose are heartbroken and angered by the recent tragic events that have further exposed and deepened our nation's historic racial divide.
We condemn in the strongest terms the actions rooted in bias and hatred that led to the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. My heart breaks for the families who mourn their loss, as well as for the many members of our St. Ambrose family harmed daily by the racism and hatred in which these recent deaths are rooted.
I want to assure those St. Ambrose students, faculty, staff and alumni that, while we cannot fully understand your anguish, we, as members of your Ambrosian family, vow to examine our own biases and behaviors going forward so that we can ensure the fully inclusive environment we all deserve.
I am proud to have joined with leaders of six other Quad Cities-based institutions of higher learning in drafting a statement you'll soon read in local media. It expresses our contempt for the ongoing use of deadly force against Black Americans by police across the United States. Together, we have pledged to continue to seek and promote real educational solutions to end this behavior.
For example, faculty and students in our own Criminal Justice Department have worked for years to research patterns of bias in policing in Davenport and other Iowa communities, and to educate police and community leaders in ways to eliminate the underlying bias that leads to the unacceptable violation of basic civil and human rights. This is among the significant ways institutions such as ours can create changes in behavior and help eradicate the prejudice that leads to tragedies such as those we mourn today.
Through the grace of God and through the power of love, understanding, and a commitment to educating one another, we can heal, and become a better nation and a single human family. I pray for us all in this painful and difficult time.
–Sister Joan
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