June 2, 2020
Dear BYU Psychology Community,
During this COVID-19 pandemic, when many people are already experiencing feelings of fear, isolation, and vulnerability, we witnessed the senseless and tragic death of our brother, George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. Some of you are in shock, saddened, enraged and/or depressed by witnessing this apparent blunt and shameless act of racism. This is the time for us to be united with love and prayer to ameliorate discrimination. President Nelson stated, in response to the murder of George Floyd, “During the Savior’s earthly mission, He constantly ministered to those who were excluded, marginalized, judged, overlooked, abused, and discounted. As His followers, can we do anything less? The answer is no! We believe in freedom, kindness, and fairness for all of God’s children!” He further stated, “The Creator of us all calls on each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group of God’s children. Any of us who has prejudice toward another race needs to repent!”
One of our responsibilities, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the BYU community, is to be the hands and feet of Christ to the world. We stand firmly against mistreatment of our brothers and sisters because of their skin color. We may appear to be different, but we ALL are children of our loving Heavenly Father. There is no place in His kingdom for inequality, injustice, exclusion or discrimination. Christ came to stop this and to fight for love and unity. We must follow the Savior’s example by being committed to creating a safe, loving, and supportive community for all. To do so, we need to be committed to becoming an agent of change.
The Psychology Department faculty want you all to know that you are in our hearts, minds, and prayers as we are experiencing sadness, worry, and hurt with you in these difficult times. As a field of psychological scientists, we are focused on understanding mental processes and human behavior, and it is in times like this that we recognize the challenges that come to all of us by living in an imperfect world. The main goal of psychology is to improve the human condition, and we are fortunate to have the scientific knowledge base from our field in combination with the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Combining these resources gives us a unique perspective into the human condition and our purpose on Earth, as well as an increased responsibility to truly “go forth and serve” all of God’s children in unity and love.
We love you and we acknowledge that some of you may be profoundly affected by this incident, and may be having difficulty maintaining your own healthy psychological well-being. If this is the case, we suggest that you contact Counseling and Psychological Services. As always, we hope you will reach out to our faculty directly if we can offer any support. May each of us seek out the Savior constantly and truly ‘Hear Him.”
~ Psychology Dept. Diversity Committee ~
Niwako Yamawaki, Bob Ridge, Ed Gantt, and Blake Jones
