On Pentecost Sunday, after a night of unrest that swept the country in the wake of the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of police, Rev William J Barber II delivered what he called “a pastoral letter to America” urging that leaders hear – and heed – the calls for justice from blacks and other minorities.
Barber, a North Carolina Disciples of Christ pastor and the co-leader of the Poor People Campaign, said Pentecost, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ apostles, is a time of discernment.
Protesters in Nashville hold up “I can’t breathe” signs, in memory of George Floyd on 30th May. PICTURE: RNS/Bob Smietana.
Floyd’s May 25th death is a moment when Americans ought to wake up to the ways systemic racism is “choking the life out of American democracy,” he said. He urged immediate reforms to make America more just including universal health care, a living wage, sick leave, and affordable housing – part of the platform he has long championed with his Poor People’s Campaign.
Speaking from the pulpit of an empty Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Barber delivered a 40-minute message to cameras, connecting the death of the unarmed 46-year-old African-American man from Minneapolis to the Covid-19 pandemic which has disproportionately killed African Americans and led to widespread unemployment and economic hardship.
“More than 100,000 people have said, ‘I can’t breathe,’ as this disease choked them to death,” Barber said, linking Floyd’s last words as he lay dying while a white police officer pinned him to the ground and pressed his knee to his neck.
Over the weekend, images of Floyd’s death captured on video sparked a night of anger, protest and vandalism as clashes erupted between the police and protesters in dozens of cities.
Barber said the image of the police officer with his knee to Floyd’s neck reminded him of game hunters posing in photos kneeling on their prey triumphant in their success.
Over and over, he returned to the metaphor of gasping for air in referring to the protests that have wracked the country, describing them as “the inevitable reflex of a people who cannot breathe because their life is being systematically snuffed out.”
Barber urged prosecutors to file charges not only against the officer who directly caused Floyd’s death, but the other officers who stood by and watched.
But more urgently he reminded political leaders that moments of crisis require structural changes – such as those that ended slavery, gave women the right to vote and extended voting rights to African Americans.
He ended his talk urging elected officials to take the time to see and listen to the people’s cries rather than urge a quick return to order.
“We cannot try to hurry up and put the screams and the tears and the hurt back in the bottle, just to get back to some normal that was abnormal in the first place,” Barber said. “Hear the screams. Feel the tears. The very people rejected over and over again are the ones who have shown us the possibility of a more perfect nation. They are telling us these wounds are too much. This death is too much.
“If we listen to America, if we listen, and now is the time for us not to stop mourning, but to mourn and refuse to be comforted, to unite our collective moral power and demand transformative change right now.”
Earlier, leaders from two of the largest faith groups in the United States issued statements lamenting the death of George Floyd and calling for an end to racial inequality.
“We are broken-hearted, sickened, and outraged to watch another video of an African American man being killed before our very eyes,” wrote a group of US Catholic bishops who head committees for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. “What’s more astounding is that this is happening within mere weeks of several other such occurrences. This is the latest wake-up call that needs to be answered by each of us in a spirit of determined conversion.”
Bishops drafting the letter include Archbishop Nelson J Pérez of Philadelphia, Archbishop Paul S Coakley of Oklahoma City, and Bishop Joseph N Perry, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, and numerous others.
The bishops called for addressing racial inequality and for an end to violent protests. They also offered support for the family of George Floyd.
“While it is expected that we will plead for peaceful non-violent protests, and we certainly do, we also stand in passionate support of communities that are understandably outraged,” read the statement.
“We join Archbishop Bernard A Hebda of St Paul and Minneapolis in praying for the repose of the soul of Mr George Floyd and all others who have lost their lives in a similar manner, ” the bishops write. “We plead for an end to the violence in the wake of this tragedy and for the victims of the rioting. We pray for comfort for grieving families and friends. We pray for peace across the United States, particularly in Minnesota, while the legal process moves forward. We also anticipate a full investigation that results in rightful accountability and actual justice.”
The bishops also addressed the need to acknowledge and address the issues of racisms, calling it a “real and present danger.”
“We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life. We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice,” they wrote.
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, including SBC President JD Greear, heads of the denomination’s national entities and seminaries, leaders of state conventions and officers of the SBC, also issued a statement in the wake of Floyd’s death.
“As a convention of churches committed to the equality and dignity of all people, Southern Baptists grieve the death of George Floyd, who was killed May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minn,” the statement reads.
“While all must grieve, we understand that in the hearts of our fellow citizens of color, incidents like these connect to a long history of unequal justice in our country, going back to the grievous Jim Crow and slavery eras. The images and information we have available to us in this case are horrific and remind us that there is much more work to be done to ensure that there is not even a hint of racial inequity in the distribution of justice in our country. We grieve to see examples of the misuse of force, and call for these issues to be addressed with speed and justice.”
The statement also gave thanks for law enforcement officers who “uphold justice with dignity and integrity” but also lamented “when some law enforcement officers misuse their authority and bring unnecessary harm on the people they are called to protect.”
Southern Baptist leaders also spoke of the Bible’s condemnation of injustice and the need to follow the example of Jesus.
“Therefore, as a matter of Christian obedience and devotion, followers of Jesus Christ cannot remain silent when our brothers and sisters, friends and/or people we seek to win for Christ are mistreated, abused or killed unnecessarily,” the statement read.
