On Friday, March 15, 2019, at least 49 people, including young children, were murdered by a white supremacist who targeted Muslims at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Almost the same number of individuals were injured in this horrific terrorist attack.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arden described it as “one of New Zealand’s “darkest days.” She is profoundly correct in her assessment. What is also correct to say is that the far-right violence currently on the rise in the world is intensely energized by the white supremacist rhetoric of the President of the United States.

Sadly, Brenton Tarrant, the man who has been charged with murder in the New Zealand mosque shootings, praised Donald Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” In that respect, one of New Zealand’s darkest days is also one of the darkest days in our nation.

In light of this, the editors of Cherry Castle Publishing are compelled by the troubling tenor of our times to make it plain: Their blood is our blood. We are the siren-surrounded mosques in New Zealand. We are the police-taped Bible study at “Mother Emanuel” in Charleston, and we are the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh weeping over the dead.

And so, unhesitatingly, we stand in prayer and bold solidarity with the Christchurch community as it grapples with the aftermath of this unprecedented right-wing violence. Moreover, we stand in harmonious agreement with all souls who celebrate the beauty, diversity, and human dignity of all people, wherever they reside in the world.

-Truth Thomas, Editor-in-Chief, Cherry Castle Publishing