The Japan ICU Foundation stands in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people who have taken to the streets over the last week in protest of the tragic killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. We are committed to upholding the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and are inspired by our Christian heritage and the universal values of peace, justice, freedom and love. We strongly oppose systemic racism, which denies people of color in the United States and around the world the right to life, liberty and security of person.

As an organization based in New York City, we celebrate the diversity of our city, and honor the constitutional right to free speech and non-violent protest. A great citizen of New York, James Baldwin, wrote the following reflection about the civil rights movement. His words ring true today.

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.
Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.

In solidarity,
Japan ICU Foundation