If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that people spark the change we want to see in the world, that we should not be waiting for the magic push of a restart button. Challenging times may not only be here to stay for a while longer but may get more challenging before getting better, which is why we need community, faith, hope, learning, the list can go on and on. We also need spaces where we can learn, grow, praise, experience, lament, and grieve together.

It would be amazing if we could just push a magic button and all would go back to pre-pandemic times to a world where we could go back to choosing whether we could attend our classroom spaces, meetings, events, and social spaces in a virtual landscape or in a live setting the way we used to. It would be ideal if we could be in a world free of systemic racism and injustices. The pandemic has hit our country hard, further exposing racial inequities and disproportionately infecting and killing minoritized populations at an alarming rate. However, the pandemic is a small element of a much larger systemic racism issue that needs to keep getting attention even after the pandemic is under control. Even though it might seem as though the numbers will not decrease anytime soon, medical professionals will find a way to get this medical crisis restrained.

Although a cure for systemic racism may still be far off, we can commit to taking actions that begin to address the hurt it causes. The start of this blog is one of those actions. In weeks and months ahead, this space will include the voices of those in our own FPU community who are pursuing the work of God’s justice here on earth as it is in heaven. Some of these stories may celebrate visions of God’s shalom, peace, and fullness that are being experienced even now. Some of these stories may raise a cry of lament for the persistence of injustice as creation groans in the long wait for redemption (cf. Romans 8:19-23). We truly believe that by coming into proximity with what is happening in our nation, we can reach those in the margins, empathize, and find a cure to the disease that has infiltrated our communities. It is time that we listen to the stories of those that have been condemned unjustly. Most importantly, it is time to change the dominating narratives that have shaped our perspectives. We hope this space will highlight the injustices that our underprivileged communities are enduring. Here are stories of this community at Fresno Pacific University, and as we encounter these stories, we practice Seeing, Hearing, And Respecting Everyone.

We see you, we hear you, we respect you.

Your SHARE Blog Editors,

Martha Fregoso, UDC Co-Chair
Dr. Melanie Howard, UDC Co-Chair
Patty Salinas, Interim Chief Diversity Officer
Breanne Wyse, Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Spiritual Formation