NDMU Virtual Interfaith Prayer Service

The University Community will be coming together on Friday, June 12 at 3:00 p.m. in unity and faith to pray for George Floyd, all victims of racial injustice, discrimination, and violence. Join us at our virtual Interfaith Prayer Service as we gather as a community to support one another, pray and reflect on the value of human dignity.

Zoom link emailed to campus on Monday, June 8. Contact Sr. Mary Kerber if you did not receive the link.

SGA: An Open Forum to Discuss Race, COVID, and Justice

Several faculty/staff members and students from across the University are organizing a community-wide Zoom forum on Friday, June 12 at 4:00 p.m. for us to discuss the ways in which the pandemic in the US is intersecting with structural racism to produce deepening inequity, violence, and death. And, even more importantly, what we can do as individuals and as a community to demand justice. We will have several knowledgeable faculty/staff moderators, including Jen Erdman, Jina Fast, and Brandy Garlic. We also have several student moderators. And we want to hear from YOU.

Zoom Forum

Please spread the word about the Forum via social media and let your friends know! The more participants we have, the more voices are raised, the more powerful will be the momentum we can carry forward into action.

Hoping you will be part of the forum—and encourage others to join,

NDMU SGA

Counseling Center Healing Circle

The Counseling Center offered a Healing Circle on June 8, a safe space for students to collectively share about their experiences related to recent injustices, deaths, protests, and continued discrimination against the black community. Because it is so important that we continue this conversation, The Healing Circle will be offered every Monday for the remainder of June from 4:00-5:00 p.m. This is a chance to connect with one another with empathy and compassion. The details for this meeting are listed below. Please note that registration is required for the program.

What: NDMU Counseling Center Healing Circle
When: Mondays in June at 4:00 pm. Next meeting is Monday, June 15th
Where: Virtually Via Zoom
Registration: RSVP to Julia Petros at jpetros@ndm.edu if you would like to attend and you will be sent a zoom invite.

The Healing Circle is a safe space to engage in respectful dialogue with recognition of our human interconnectedness.  The NDMU Counseling Center stands in solidarity with the rest of the University community against racism and discrimination and reminds the campus community to treat yourselves (and everyone else) well.

Student-Athlete Social Justice Town Hall

NDMU student-athletes are invited to join in a conversation on ways to be a part of the change towards social justice. This is also an opportunity to check-in, share how the student-athletes are coping in this time, and lead on each other to identify strategies to stay rooted and well.

When: Tuesday, June 16 at 11:00 a.m.

Just Mercy Discussion

Join the Criminology department in a discussion on best-selling memoir and movie, Just Mercy. Just Mercy is the true story of Bryan Stevenson, a recent Harvard graduate and defense attorney who moved to Alabama to represent the wrongly condemned or those unable to afford proper representation.

The movie focuses on one of Stevenson’s first cases: the appeal of Walter McMillian. In 1987, McMillian was sentenced to the death penalty for the murder of an 18-year-old woman, despite much evidence proving his innocence. Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative in 1989 and has continued to be a force in challenging the bias against the poor and minorities in the criminal justice system. The movie, starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, can be streamed for free from multiple sources.

We encourage watching the movie prior to the discussion but this not required to participate in the discussion. The movie may be found on regular digital platforms for free through the month of June.

Tuesday, June 23 at 4:00 p.m.

Zoom Link

Art Therapy Events

"Making Space for What is Needed" to be held via Zoom

painting with the words: you belong here and everything you feel is alright

Saturday, July 18 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Students and alums can register via the event page. If you have any questions, contact Cathy Goucher.

Additional Resources

Check out Art Therapy's Facebook for additional resources.

Loyola/Notre Dame Library Resources

assorted antiracism books available at the LNDL

The LNDL announced they have made a selection of Antiracism books available for to read online while the Library is closed.  Current students, faculty and staff can log in to the library to gain access to these books.

This is not an exhaustive list of resources available neither in LNDL's collection nor beyond. If you're interested in learning more about other reading lists and/or if you have any comments or corrections please reach out to a librarian through chat or email.

Campus Ministry Prayers & Resources

The pope's message to the U.S. was part of his address during Wednesday's general audience at the Vatican. Here's the full text of that portion of his remarks:

"I greet the English-speaking faithful joining us through the media. Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd. My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life. At the same time, we have to recognize that "the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost".

"Today I join the Church in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and in the entire United States, in praying for the repose of the soul of George Floyd and of all those others who have lost their lives as a result of the sin of racism. Let us pray for the consolation of their grieving families and friends and let us implore the national reconciliation and peace for which we yearn. May Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America, intercede for all those who work for peace and justice in your land and throughout the world. May God bless all of you and your families. "

  • From the Wisconsin Muslim Journal

Qur’an 30:22 also states that only those who possess intellect, knowledge, and insight can see and understand God’s signs in the Creation. Racism is imbedded within ignorance. This type of ignorance is fixed in the faulty view that a person’s race reflects her or his social status or moral character. In the face of the recent tragedy, all Muslims should be reminded of Prophet Muhammad’s message of racial equality: “No person is better than another by virtue of race or ethnic background.” In his last sermon in Makka, the Prophet (PBUH) undeniably and unquestionably condemned racism by stating that “all humankind is descended from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab and a non-Arab has no superiority over an Arab. A white person has no superiority over a black person, nor has a black person superiority over a white person except by piety and good deed.” Again, an individual is distinguished over another not by race or skin color but by the quality of her or his character and behavior. A famous hadith reported by Abu Hurayra reiterates this fact: “Verily God does not look to your faces and your wealth but He looks to your heart and to your deeds.” Among the adherents of Islam who struggled for racial equality and justice for all and fought against racism in the 1950s and 60s was Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), the African-American Muslim civil rights leader. In the letter he wrote after his Hajj experience in Makka, Malcolm emphasizes a tremendous shift in his perspective on race and racism: “There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and the non-white.”  - Fatih Harpci, PhD., Associate Professor of Religion, Carthage College, Kenosha

  • From the Jewish Community Relations Council

JCRC Open Letter on the Killing of Mr. George Floyd

Dear Friends,

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) at the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven is outraged by the killing of Mr. George Floyd, a subdued, handcuffed  African American man, pleading for help, was suffocated by a former Minneapolis police officer.

Our hearts break for Mr. Floyd’s family and friends. We also feel devastated for our friends and neighbors in the African-American community. Your pain is our pain.

At a time when African-Americans and other people of color are disproportionately losing their lives to COVID-19, Mr. Floyd’s killing reminds us that for far too long African-Americans have also been much more likely to die at the hands of the police.  

Mr. Floyd didn’t deserve to die. Jewish tradition teaches us that a loss of one person is a loss of an entire world. We mourn together for this horrible death. The struggle for justice and anti-discrimination should be a fight for all, it is a struggle over the foundational human commitments as citizens and as a society.

 Betty and Arthur Levy, JCRC Co-Chairs

Judy Alperin, CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven

Eliraz Shifman Berman, JCRC Director

Rescue me, God, from my foes;
Protect me from those who attack me.
O rescue me from those who do evil,
And save me from those who are bloodthirsty.

See they lie in wait for my life;
The strong band together against me.
For no offense, no sin of mine, O Lord,
For no guilt of mine they rush to take their stand.

Awake! Come to meet me, and see!
Lord God of hosts, you are Israel’s God.

As for me, I will sing of your strength,
And acclaim your faithful love in the morning,
For you have been my stronghold,
A refuge in the day of my distress.

O my Strength, to you I will sing praise,
For you, O God, are my stronghold,
The God who shows me faithful love.