After President Donald Trump declared D.C. was plagued with “bloodshed, bedlam and squalor,” the National Cathedral issued a statement saying his language increases the risk of “indiscriminate arrests and the use of excessive force.”
The message, entitled “Fear is not a Strategy for Safety,” was signed by leaders of different faiths and denominations, including the Washington Hebrew Congregation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the United Methodist Church, among others. The statement released by the National Cathedral was authored by Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde.
In January, at the National Prayer Service on the day after Trump was sworn in, Budde made a direct appeal to the president, asking him to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
She included gay, lesbian and transgender individuals, as well as undocumented immigrants, in that “scared” group.
Randy Hollerith, the dean of the National Cathedral, told WTOP, “Yes, there are crime issues in Washington, D.C.,” but that the language that the president used stoked fear.
“We’re not overrun by violent gangs or bloodthirsty criminals or roving mobs of youth or drugged out maniacs,” Hollerith said. “These people are human beings, and they need to be treated as such, and we need to remember that.”
In regard to the attack on the city’s homeless population in particular, Hollerith said, “The homeless who live in this city have a myriad of issues from mental illness to addiction and we just think it’s important that we be aware of the humanity of these people.”
The message published on the National Cathedral’s website called on political and civic leaders “to reject fear-based governance and work together in a spirit of dignity and respect so that safety, justice and compassion” could prevail in D.C.
“When we work just on perceptions rather than on facts, we can mislead people and create a scenario of fear — fear of the other, fear of the stranger, fear of the homeless — that we don’t need to create,” Hollerith said.
He added there are problems with homelessness and crime in the District, but said, “We have lots of creative ways we can deal with it, that do not involve just taking people for granted or treating them like they don’t matter.”
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