Message to Our Community
“It’s up to all of us to root out racism.” Michelle Obama
Dear De La Salle North Catholic Community:
The tragic death of George Floyd and the national outrage now upon us breaks our hearts and raises in us questions about our capacity to love enough, to have courage enough, to have trust enough to change what needs changing. The scale and breadth of racial injustice seems an insurmountable thing as protests now spread around the world. Here in Portland, too, our city’s racist history remains an open wound.
What can we do?
Our flawed humanity shows itself when fear overwhelms us. Yet, when we come together in faith, when we reach out to each other in hope, and when we resolve to act with love, our Lasallian community can bear the burdens of our shared grief, take on the painful conversations of privilege and transformation, and work together to create the just community we all desire to be part of.
Students and families of De La Salle North Catholic, we stand and pray in solidarity with you as we create our inclusive community founded on Catholic social teachings: we are all created in God’s image, bearing in our souls an inherent dignity, drawn together in Providence to build up God’s kingdom and take on the persistent work of the Gospel—to love one another unconditionally.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated this best, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
This we can do.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts . . . forever!
Oscar Leong Tim Joy
President Principal
