A Declaration on Racial Equity from Talitha Koum Covenant Partners
June 19, 2020
Dear Friends,
At Talitha Koum, we follow Jesus who said the greatest commandment is to love — to love God, our neighbor as ourselves, the stranger among us, and even our enemies. No qualifiers.
An organization has no life or will of its own apart from those who lead it. The violence of systemic racism will not end by the decree of institutions. It will end when hearts and minds come to see, know, repent, and change.
Ministries like Talitha Koum Institute must commit to constantly evaluate whether our core values
of love and respect are real and true and can be put to the test by those we serve.
For Talitha Koum, the premise that black lives matter is a deeply held belief that has been woven into our hearts since the late 1990s when we began our work. The vast majority of the children served by our mission have been black lives. Our staff and our Covenant Partners have each been called by God to Talitha Koum to help rectify the injustices that continue to dehumanize and delegitimize the vast worth of our children and their families.
It is in this spirit, and in the understanding that this is a core facet of our mission to serve trauma-affected children that we, the governing body of Talitha Koum Institute, commit ourselves to these actions:
First, to love as Jesus loved: Every one, every time, and to demonstrate that love in word and deed as we build relationships that model unity.
To listen intently to the voices of the lives at the heart of our ministry, the parents and children of Talitha Koum. It is our God-given task to lighten their burden by shouldering it with them, and it is our privilege to do so.
To submit to highly skilled equity and inclusion trainings that fearlessly unearth illegitimate perspectives and prejudices while awakening deep truths and corrective sensibilities, and to provide those experiences to our staff, volunteers, and donors.
To deepen our awareness by scheduling specific times in our meeting agenda to conduct a sweeping inventory of our thoughts, actions, and practices to discover areas where we fall short of God’s standard. While we commit to conduct this inventory in all respects, we recognize the sin of pride, lack of humility, or
considering ourselves better than our neighbors to be particularly detrimental and contradicting of our very calling.
To continue to place a high priority on recruiting new Covenant Partners and staff members who have lived the experience of racial inequity and are a positive force for change.
To live and serve through a vision of hope and to drive that hope through our brain development mission.
Our tears are not enough. The heart that surges forth to weep must know a deep reclamation. We fear not the wrecking ball of truth, for God’s grace will imbue this journey. On that path, we ask you to hold us accountable, you the community who support Talitha Koum as donors, volunteers, and staff. If we fail to match this declaration in word or deed, voice your perspective for our betterment.
Many hearts have been stirred to reflection and action in these days of both tumult and opportunity. We know our brothers and sisters of all colors have been wrestling with the thought, “I want to be a part of this change. What can I do?” There are innumerable worthy actions to take and organizations to support. If you feel so led, we would invite you to consider investing in the precious lives that are nurtured at Talitha Koum. Invest in relationships with our families. Support our teachers. Commit to mentor one of our children. Pray for us.
May we all live love, and may we do so in humility,
Talitha Koum Covenant Partners
J.T. Carpenter, Chair
Michael Bankhead, Treasurer
Geoff Nelson, Secretary
DeShauna Hollie
Sandy Marek
Marsha Martie
Clint SavageSusan Cowley, Executive Director