Yesterday, a grand jury in Louisville announced that there would be no murder charges against the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor. This news is both heartbreaking, and heartbreakingly unsurprising: it is yet another affirmation that Black lives are disposable to the state, and that police are allowed to kill Black people with impunity.

Our Unitarian Universalist faith has at its foundation the belief in the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings– a core value that every single person is equally embraced by that great Love from which we are all born, and which holds us all without exception. To hold unwaveringly this truth in the face of a white supremacist system that devalues and defiles Black people with such regularity means that we must state again, unequivocally:

Black Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter.

When the pattern of disregard for this truth repeats itself incessantly, rage and grief are inevitable. While we know that the criminal punishment system will never bring true justice, we also acknowledge the deep pain that accompanies this most recent affirmation that police will not be held accountable for the murder of Black people.

The Unitarian Universalist Association affirms our solidarity with all of our Black siblings and kin, with communities across the globe who are rising up in resistance to state-sanctioned violence against Black people, and with the organizers and protesters in Kentucky who are responding right now– as they have been unceasingly for the past 120 days– with righteous anger to this latest miscarriage of justice. When there is no justice, there can be no peace.

We lift up and support the demands articulated by Black Lives Matter: Louisville, including:

1. Immediately fire and revoke the pensions of the officers that murdered Breonna Taylor;
2. Divest from LMPD and Invest in community building;
3. Immediate resignation (or impeachment) of Mayor Greg Fisher;
4. Metro Council ends use of force by Louisville Metro Police Department. Police shootings are gun violence;
5. A local, civilian community police accountability council that is independent from the Mayor’s Office and LMPD with investigation and discipline power #CPAC; and
6. The creation of policy to ensure transparent investigation processes

In the words of the great organizer Ella Baker, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.” We call on all Unitarian Universalists to commit yet again to acting alongside all who are working to bring about a world in which Black lives, bodies, and communities are treated with reverence and respect.