On Dec 12, 2024, an email was provided to me that contained a letter from Mayor Purzycki and appears to be in response to the ever-growing conflict regarding SsAM’s commitment to highlighting the mistreatment of unhoused neighbors and their experience with Wilmington’s civil servants.
[Ed Note: The Mayor’s letter can be read in full at the bottom of this reply.]
As a faith leader, a community member, and a friend to all, I am both disappointed and deeply motivated to share the inappropriate and apathetic response provided by the exiting Mayor Purzycki. The contents and tenor of the response speaks directly to the consciousness of city leadership and has further committed our coalition of organizations to speak out.
In multiple sections of the letter, the Mayor indicates procedural and seemingly practical actions on the part of the City and its servants. These incidents and actions were all witnessed by our leadership and local organizations, and are grossly mischaracterized in the letter – effectively naming these actions as “support for the community.”
All parties witnessing the incidents have described first-hand a sense of inhumanity and injustice in targeting vulnerable and unhoused neighbors. A full account of these interactions has been broadcast through both the Mayoral communications and the communications SsAM has highlighted, and no longer serves to support this continued conflict.
What remains centered is the need for an interdisciplinary, person-centered, collaborative, communal approach for equitable solutions that support the needs of those in our community and neighborhood so that basic human needs are not a luxury, but a promise. As of today, the pleas of the organizations demanding accountability from the City and the Mayor have been left without adequate conversation, with no semblance of urgency, and remain without action. This is not only a public failing, but a moral one as well. Notably during one of the coldest months of the year.
SsAM will continue to serve as a safe haven for those who live on the margins and are most vulnerable which includes elevating and amplifying their voices. The othering and actions of erasure toward our neighbors has been witnessed and will continue to be named. Our faith demands us to be consistent and brave bystanders to any and all injustice created by those in places of power and to call those in power to account.
Our current Mayor has chosen not to meet with us, listen to the concerns, and to try to find solutions. Every day without action means more harm comes to more of our neighbors as the population of those who are unhoused rises. It has been made clear that this administration will not engage in meaningful conversation to find solutions as reflected in this newly received letter, therefore, we will reach out to Mayor-elect Carney’s team. We hope to have generative, collaborative, and engaging relationships with this new administration who we pray will take actionable steps to bring equity and compassion to the center of Wilmington’s treatment of all members of the community. As we have previously stated, we stand ready to be collaborative partners with any and all public servants and organizations who seek a more inclusive and welcoming city for everyone.
We are grateful for the tremendous community support that we have received and remain steadfast and committed to our faith that there is a better way forward through love and shared commitment to each other.
The Reverend Patrick Burke is the Rector at the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew in Wilmington, DE