Update

In a major win for Native survivors and communities, Congress took an important step forward last week in the journey to reconciliation and healing from the harms of the Indian boarding schools era.

Four year’s later, we’re still waiting for Congress to head our calls. We need societal change and real legislative solutions to address the crisis of police violence. Lawmakers must take long overdue action, beginning by finally passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

On May 8, President Joe Biden vowed that he would halt offensive weapons to the Israeli government if it moved forward with an assault on Rafah. 

While we celebrated the statement as a significant positive step, we noted that we must hold our government accountable for making good on President Biden’s vow.

Disagreements disproportionately turn violent in marginalized communities plagued with disinvestment, oppression, and a history of trauma. We must look to intervention models that work to prevent neighborhood gun violence.

The intersection of U.S. housing policies and community violence illuminates a stark reality: systemic racism has perpetuated socio-economic disparities linked to increased urban violence. Investing in violence interrupter (VI) programs is an imperative step to breaking this cycle, offering localized solutions to mitigate and strategically confront violence rooted in systemic racism.

there is a hopeful prospect nestled within the bill—a requirement for transparency and a clear strategy regarding the U.S. government’s future engagement in Ukraine.

Thanks to bicameral, bipartisan action, Congress recently extended a key reporting requirement for another six years, demonstrating a renewed commitment to atrocity prevention work. 

As violence escalates and reverberates in the Middle East, Friends feel a call to act. For many, that action includes working in their own community to distill their grief, fear, confusion, and concern into a collective and corporate statement of belief and action. Friends call these statements “minutes.” 

“In the way of peace, we urge all people, including those who hold political power, to set aside violence and aggression and to seek humane and compassionate ways of resolving conflict.”

We are saddened and outraged by recent police violence against students protesting American complicity in the war in Gaza.

FCNL condemns the violent government responses to peaceful protests. We call on officials to protect civil liberties and ensure the safety of Jews, Muslims, and all students on campus.

As the world faces high levels of violence and more active armed conflict than at any point since World War II, FCNL advocates successfully lobbied to protect critical funding for international peacebuilding.