Congregation shares statement from InterFaith Council of the Wabash Valley

Editor’s Note: Our Congregation wanted to share with you the following statement from the InterFaith Council of the Wabash Valley

IFC statement on hate towards Asians and people of Asian descent

We, the InterFaith Council of the Wabash Valley (IFC), with representatives from a wide variety of religious faiths, ethnicities and humanitarian belief systems, are deeply troubled by the bigoted language, threats, hate incidents and hate crimes targeting Asians, Asian Americans and people of Asian descent throughout the United States and worldwide. Sadly, we are not immune from it here in Terre Haute as evidenced by recent social media posts from an elected official/police officer calling for a nuclear attack on China and Hong Kong, stemming from an adherence to baseless conspiracy theories. We condemn this, as we denounce all forms of racial, ethnic and religious targeting, including threats of mass and individual violence; bigoted hate language; hate incidents; and hate crimes.

We call on educators and religious leaders to teach tolerance, respect and appreciation of cultural and religious traditions different from their own and to correct misinformation meant to destabilize and breed hate, which as we saw on January 6, can so easily turn into violence. We call on law enforcement and court prosecutors at the local, state and national levels to do everything in their power to follow up on hate threats and incidents and to prevent and punish all acts of violence against our friends and neighbors who are Asian, Asian American or of Asian descent, so they can feel welcome, safe and secure in our community and country.