If We Love One Another: An Open Letter to the MC Family

“Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.” –Isaiah 1:16-17

Dear MC Family,

Even though we cannot be physically together right now due to COVID-19, we can still join as a community in expressing our sorrow and outrage over the death of George Floyd and the sin of racism that continues to plague our country.

MC cannot remain silent while African Americans are killed, persecuted, threatened, or treated as “less than.” As a Christian university, we have a moral imperative to do right, seek justice, and defend the oppressed. We have an obligation to our African American students, faculty and staff members, and friends not just to acknowledge the physical, emotional, and mental toll racism takes on them every day, but also to let them know that we stand with the MC family in fighting that racism.

A group of diverse MC students, faculty members, and alumni has been meeting for close to a year to discuss and act on diversity and inclusion at MC. Together, we had planned events to celebrate the University’s 50^th anniversary of integration in 2020. Unfortunately, those events have been postponed due to the pandemic. This week, our group conversations have turned into frank discussions about racism and violence in our country and the pain and trauma experienced by our own group members. We are discussing the immediate and long-term steps MC should take, including acknowledging struggles in our university’s own history, to right these wrongs.

These talks are an important beginning, but change comes only when talk leads to action. Our goal today isn’t simply to put out a statement that says MC opposes racism. It’s to ask you to join us in taking actions that back up that stance.

It may seem overly ambitious to think that a small university in Mississippi can make a difference in a centuries-old system of prejudice and oppression that exists nationwide, but Scripture has given us the ultimate answer:

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” –John 13:35

If we truly loved one another as Christ tells us to love one another, then racism, prejudice, oppression, brutality, and violence would cease to exist. You have our promise that Mississippi College will be a place and a community that keeps Christ at our center and lives out that love.

Have courage,
Blake Thompson
President