The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian, associate pastor at Alden Baptist Church in Springfield, and former pastor of Haydenville Congregational Church, was a speaker at a Black Lives Matter rally in East Longmeadow on June 7. Here is her speech.

Thank you Angela Thorpe, my sister at the Alden Baptist Church, for extending the invitation for me to speak at today’s gathering. You have given me a great honor. I am humbled by your invitation and deeply grateful to be included in this lineup of community leaders. Thank you to all the organizers for inviting me to speak today.

Our hearts are broken by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police, specifically a white police officer who knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck.

Our hearts are broken by the long list of names we could stand here and recite for hours and days and days — innocent African American women and men killed by white police, white lynching mobs and white vigilantes.

Our hearts are broken by the not decades, not generations, but centuries of enslavement, brutality, land theft and murder that white people have perpetuated against African Americans and other people of color since before this nation was founded.

But our hearts being broken is not enough. White people I am talking to you: Our hearts being broken is not enough.

White people: Until our broken hearts are wedded to an unshakable resolve to act, our broken hearts are not helpful.

Until our broken hearts are matched by our willingness to take risks and combat racism — visibly, powerfully, and daily, our broken hearts are not enough.

Until our broken hearts are yoked to our commitment to dismantle the social, political and economic systems that give white people unearned advantage each day of our lives, our broken hearts are inadequate.

Until our broken hearts are fortified with a steadfast determination and unwavering will to never accept what is the status quo, but to use this horrific crisis as a catalyst for profound change, our broken hearts are too weak a response.

Until our broken hearts are strengthened by an unending, unmovable commitment to look inequality in the eye, the original sin upon which this country was built, and declare that systemic, institutional, relentless, insidious and soul-destroying racism must end now, white people’s broken hearts are simply an indulgence.

White people love to talk about how they have many black friends and how they individually are not racist. I have found that many white people like to think of themselves as the exception to the rule. Other white people are clueless, other white people don’t get it. But white exceptionalism is not helpful, for me, for you, for any of us white folks. White exceptionalism is untrue and unhelpful.

I am tired of those conversations and will not engage in them any longer.

White people, I am talking to you: Our words are empty. Only our actions matter now. Reducing racism to simply personal interactions ignores the more virulent forms of the disease — cultural and institutional racism.

Every institution in this country was created by white people for the benefit of white people — every single institution. Look at our history.

Racism is embedded in every institutional system in this nation and is present, always, unless it is removed. White people believe that institutions like the criminal justice system, policing, education, the financial system and the health care system are neutral until a racist incident occurs and then racism is introduced.

The opposite is true. Racism exists in every American institution until it is removed. So get busy white people and start removing it.

White people, I am talking to you. We must be working relentlessly in our homes, houses of worship, work places, communities, city government, health care system, federal government, police departments, neighborhoods, and on and on to name, combat, and nonviolently fight racism.

White people, I am talking to you: Listen to and believe people of color. That is a good first step. Follow the leadership of people of color. That is another good step.

Analyze the unearned benefits and advantages you/I receive silently, constantly and inevitably every hour of every day in this country.

Get smart about your own/our own white privilege, which is dripping off each and every one of us, the privilege that has distorted our thinking and numbed our response to injustice.

White people, I am talking to you. We need to get smart and get active.

History will judge how white people behave during this crisis.

Our hearts may be broken, but our broken hearts alone will not save our beloved friends, neighbors and colleagues of color, and will not dismantle racism.

Only bold, informed, courageous, faithful, nonstop action will make a difference.

Showing up, speaking out, organizing, agitating, taking risks, being informed, walking with, listening, protesting, protecting, breaking down boundaries, fighting for justice, those will make a difference.

White silence is violence.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

White people, he was talking to us.

There is no such thing as passive anti-racism. There is only active anti-racism.

White people, we are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

So let’s get serious about creating profound systemic change.

White people, I am talking to you: let’s get busy.

Amen.