Here our deep respect and sincere appreciation for people of other backgrounds who seek to grow in faith as well as knowledge. Georgetowns jesuit tradition of education has always prided both the pursuit of truth and virtue. It is the transformation of the whole person from ignorance to understanding, from isolation to dialogue. From indifference to more responsibility. It characterizes the best of what i just thought might georgetown has to offer. So much of the political and social discourse of our nation has heart into a rancorous noise. It has distracted us from our ability to be informed, honest, and even prophetic and our dialogue about the ethical issues facing us today. With these dialogues, we hope that a conversation in the midst of this sacred space might offer a more prayerful posture to engage political, academic, and spiritual leaders. Placing these dialogues with an in place of prayer and worship can sustain and empower us to be more active participants and renew our common sense of purpose. Tonight the office of mission and ministry in collaboration with the initiative on catholic social thought continues our series that seeks to deepen conversations about social justice along with this rich and deep heritage in our christian faith. Tonight, we unite in confronting racism in our hearts. Before beginning, with song and prayer, i would like to invite the president to share his own personal welcome. Thank you very much, father bosco. Good evening everyone. Thank you for this opportunity to be with you all. As father bosco shared, for a second dialogue hosted by our initiative on catholic social thought in public life in her option in our office of mission and ministry. These dialogues are not ready to come together in prayer, are an opportunity to come together in prayer, reflection, and dialogue. We seek a deeper alignment of our values and our action. We are grateful to the initiative, to the office of mission and ministry, to the Democracy Fund, to chris crawford, for their efforts to make this evenings dialogue possible. In just a moment, john carr, director of our initiative on catholic social thought in public life, we introduce an will introduce and invite to the stage an extra in a panel an extraordinary panel. To each of you, i want to thank you for your presence. We are grateful to our panelists for the reflections that they will share with us. Id also like to thank rabbi rachel garner who will lead us in an opening prayer in just a few moments. In recent years, our community has come together through town hall meetings, classrooms, and religious spaces with our , partners across the city. We have gathered in response to public incidents and personal experiences. We sought to establish new structures and new opportunities. To urge one another, to support one another in the important work towards Racial Justice. 150 years after the abolition of slavery, our society is still grappling with the problems of racism and Racial Injustice and we are grappling with that here, in our community and in our city. Tonight we gather for this dialogue to explore the role of the state, explore the role of religious faith in pursuit of the common good of ridding the world of racism. There is a letter, the challenges of racism today, in which we are reminded that it is our faith that causes us to confront and overcome racism. Recent efforts under the leadership of archbishop gregory and Bishop George murray. The 1979 pastore reflective, brothers and sisters to us. The leadership of Cardinal Patrick oboyle to eliminate the resources. Illuminate the resources. This issue requires our enduring attention and response. Cardinal boyle sought to eliminate the cause of rachel illuminate the cause of Racial Justice. He offer the indication, the march on washington alongside john lewis and dr. King, and offer the attendance of local parishes within the march. Less wellknown is a gathering here at georgetown in 1964 in support of the civil rights act. His role as chairman of the Interreligious Committee on race relations, hell sit in interreligious event here on cap on campus attended by 1600 6500 people of protestant, catholic, and jewish faith. He said, we are here tonight to speak with one voice are deep one voice our deep religious convictions about the begin the of man and the rights of all men, what are Congress Considers in terms of Public Policy we hold in terms of Human Dignity. He concluded together and by saying, this assembly is but a beginning. We have embarked upon a crusade that will not be ended until every american has been given the right, equal opportunities, and full recognition of her or his Human Dignity. In these words, Cardinal Oboyle issued a call that remains is remains as urgent today as it was 53 years ago. It animates our long going continued commitment to grapple with our store participation in the institution of slavery. A call that demands each of us to address with greater vigor the legacy of these institutions that persist in our nation. A call that inspires reflections, and Work Together at the university community. I wish to express my appreciation to all of you. It is a privilege to be here for this convening. We are grateful. [applause] please join with us in grace,ng amazing found in your program. Please stand. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now im found was blind but now i see twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved how precious did that grace appear the hour i first believed the lord has promised good to me his words my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures yet when this flesh and heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease i shall possess of the veil a life of joy and peace when we been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun weve no less days to sing gods praise then when wed first begun please remain standing. In the shadow of rabbi abraham, Joshua Peschel and all the , rabbis who want for justice for me and surrounded me with my privilege privacy tonight. [singing in hebrew] blessed are you god. He you opens our eyes. Open our eyes this day and every year to see your light, dear god, as a shines through every human being. Help us see the radiant and light of every human family. Blessed are you god. You guide our footsteps. Guide us towards wholeness. Move us away from the racism that wounds us, divides us from ourselves, and cuts us off from one another and you. Drive us away from the equivocations that on is the divine image and some but not in others. Blessed are you god. Who gives us strength. Strengthen our current should end in our courage to turn inward and tried to pursue the world as it should we. Strengthen us to protect and plead one anothers cause. Blessed are you god. [singing in hebrew] who takes care of our every need finally, bless us in our gathering tonight and faithfulness to hear hard truths tonight bravely. If our hearts begin to harden in defensiveness, soften us to one anothers pain. If we begin to recoil in comfort discomfort, give us empathy. Is what you desire and require of us. Quiet our minds. Ready our spirits for the hard work that the world needs us to do. May we be comforted by the knowledge that you are with us every step of the way. Can you hear a song . May it in your will, maybe ours. It be hours amen. Please be seated. [indiscernible] good evening. My name is john carr and im the director of the initiative on catholic social thought public life. Im honored to partner with our colleagues in the office of mission and ministry. Thank you, rabbi for that prayer. You can tell we are an interFaith Community. We sang all the verses of the song. In the catholic way, two verses. The president talked about how we are wrestling with this at georgetown. Many of you know it is taking on very direct original, historical reality with the broader understanding of the sale of human beings to support the college of university. The very definition of White Privilege. People ask why has georgetowns response been different than other places. There are many reasons. One of them is sitting next to me. The work of the group on slavery, memory, and reconciliation. There are two things we should think about tonight. One is religious convictions on human life and dignity, about human rights and justice, about solidarity, that gives different way of looking at world. The other has been the leadership of our president. Instead of trying to evade her evade or escape or minimize, has taken this head on. He helped us had gone away forward. Moral principles of leadership. We need. E are things we need. We witnesses additions and people have been a big part of the problem and solution. Think about it. People relied of the bible by slavery. The klan burned the cross to intimidate people. The abolitionist love the scriptures. Martin luther king jr. Was a reverend. Oboyle stood up in difficult times. In the pastoral letter you have your hand, it is a step forward. Bishop gregory, its a step forward. We are here to talk about how those ideas those institutions , in leadership can make a difference. And we have a Remarkable Group of to help us think about that. One is a pastor, a leader, the only africanamerican archbishop in our country. The fact that he is the only is only says something about him and it says something about us. Jim has been a leader in at his life. We have your teaching, enter scholarship, and inner in her teaching, in her herlarship, and also in leadership on this. Someone called the conscience of the congress. Representative lewis has a day job. He had votes tonight. We are assured he is on his way here. We have hard questions. We have elements of responses. And we have a great group of people to help us. Let me turn to you first. Went toop gregory, you charlottesville. You said we have to find better ways to talk about the r word, racism. You lived a life ministered, dealt with discrimination in your own situation, grew up in chicago. One of my favorite things about archbishop gregory is that he said he decided he wanted to be a priest before he was a catholic. A testament to the power of Catholic Schools in the innercity. I worked in the conference would archbishop gregory was president. He provided enormous, tremendous leadership in many areas. I personally will never forget that at a time when the church was on trial and i was the parent of young sons, he stood up on a revoked sexual abuse and insisted on accountability and change in the church. This is a pastor of courage and a lot of that courage has come in the area of Racial Justice. When you say we have trouble talking about the r word, racism, what did you mean . How should we be talking about this . Our colleagues are saying that Democracy Fund are trying to make the case we can talk about tough issues through civil dialogue. Why do we find it hard and what should we be doing to overcome our avoidance of the r word . I think we find it difficult , especially at this moment in our nations history, because we have become so polarized. And have in so many different , ways, lost the ability to speak civilly to one another. But i also think its difficult because the issue of racism at its core is a spiritual difficulty. It is a spiritual moment. And like any spiritual moment, it calls us to conversion. Were afraid in many ways to talk about the race question. To talk about racism with one another. Because it might reveal that what we thought we understood, we dont understand. And thats the heart of the spiritual conversion. To acknowledge that what we thought we possessed that made us feel secure, we dont. When young men with torches march through the streets of charlottesville saying you will not replace us, when young black men lose their lives in our city in conflict with police and broader violence, when as the president said, africanamericans are twice as likely to be jobless in this city and infant mortality is twice as high for africanamerican babies. How do we skip to spiritual conversion . Notdo these realities shape only our spiritual response, but our personal, how public response . John, i think part of this moment and part of this response is that there have been moments in our history, recent history, where we reached a momentous event. Whether it was the civil rights act, the Voting Rights act, the election of the first africanamerican president , and there was so much hope in achieving that threshold that we confused the achievement of a public event, civic event, with human conversion. And so there is a disappointment , when we find ourselves facing the same issues and sometimes even more complex issues that we thought, if we could only an act this piece of legislation legislationiece of if this young, articulate african man can be elected president , surely we have crossed the threshold. These events caused us to doubt that we might ever be able to achieve those moments of real, deep spiritual reconciliation. You talked about spiritual conversion. You talked about whether we will cross that bridge. What are the roles and responsibilities of religious institutions and leaders in this . We are in a chapel, not a lecture hall. We began with song and prayer , not a political call to arms. Pope francis seems to be a universal leader who can touch our conscience in ways that many others cant. What is the responsibility of religious institutions and what can we learn from, one, religious leaders, not only for other religious leaders but for civic, community other , leaders. I think pope francis and dr. King, obviously its a most prophetic way, said the role of faith is to accompany people. To walk with them in lifes journey and not only does walk with them, challenge them. Its the work of evangelization. Its a work of inviting people to conversion. Earlier, it was referenced that dr. King, the world refers to him as dr. King, but he was first reverend king. That his leadership was primarily a spiritual leadership. Now, there is no question that he was directly involved with the civil changes that took place as a part of the Civil Rights Movement. But he was first of all one who spoke to the heart of our nation about the spiritual values were spiritual values that were being ignored. Marcia, youre a scholar. Youre a professor at georgetown. Im going to get this right. You were a professor at oklahoma. You are a native of chicago. Its a bit of a chicago night here at georgetown. You have all sorts of awards for your teaching. Youve written an incredible book about young africanamerican girls and women growing up. Yet, what i want to ask you about is the experience of serving on this working group. Almost all of us walked in here and off to the right is Isaac Hawkins hall. It used to be called mullaney hall. Who is father mullaney, who is Isaac Hawkins, and why is that important for this discussion tonight . When we think about the context of the work we did, for a number of us it was an exploration not only into georgetowns history but the history of the united states. Father mullaney was an American Catholic in a time when American Catholics were not clear about the question of slavery. That was who he was. He was also a leader here at Georgetown University and had a choice to make. The choice was around the assets of human beings. That was the 272 men, women, and children who were sold to reconcile some of georgetowns allow the Jesuit Community here to imagine georgetowns future. Its important to remember why we made a decision not only to rename the hall but also Mcsherry Hall to another name. I think the renaming is important for other institutions to resist the false idolatry of buildings, confederate statues, flags, the symbols in our culture at this moment that people devoting these things rather than thinking about the spiritual conversion we were talking about. And so, i think that in making the move to say we are no longer going to put a place of honor for this person who had a legitimate choice in a moment when American Catholics are grappling about the question of slavery and made the choice that was the most nefarious and most fundamental in reifying the institution of slavery. Isaac hawkins is the first name that appears on the bill of sale in 1888. We were thinking about this renaming, we were thinking about the proper character of isaac in the bible and the sacrifice. As we imagine all our institutions of being predicated by sacrifice of human life and Human Dignity, then perhaps we would have a different relationship, not only with our institutions, but with each other. The second hall is named after a free woman of color in washington, d. C. Was that was a school for half american girls. Having a memorial at georgetowns campus to her helps us remember the racial composition of georgetown. It was georges town. It was the center of africanamerican life. We need to imagine a person living a free life and watching her brothers and sisters live in an unfree life. Knowing they have Human Dignity and living in a world that they cant see that is one of the ways the memorialization process on this campus can really animate and help our students understand why we pursue the kind of education we pursue here at georgetown. You talked about what the renaming symbolized. Some people say that the symbolism thats easy. , in making that judgment, they made their judgment and long time ago. What are the behaviors and actions that we have to take to not talk about that legacy of years ago, but to deal with the reality today . You studied this. He lived this. We are in the chapel but if you dont believe what our talked about, if it is in a matter of spiritual conversion, one of the moral qualities . What are the civic virtues that we need to deal with at a time when this . I think at the heart of White Supremacy we think about the power it tries to consolidate, but White Sup