Middle Church of New York City celebrated Ash Wednesday (2/26/20) in memoriam of Trayvon Martin, who was killed the same day in 2012. Reverends Jacqui Lewis, Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, and Benjamin Perry take the podium in hoodies and lead prayers fo…
Middle Church of New York City celebrated Ash Wednesday (2/26/20) in memoriam of Trayvon Martin, who was killed the same day in 2012. Reverends Jacqui Lewis, Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, and Benjamin Perry take the podium in hoodies and lead prayers for progressive political activism before serving their congregation Skittles and Arizona iced tea during the time of communion.
Selected quotes from this service:
"There aren't many theological absolutes, but this much I know: God did not call Trayvon Martin home. God did not call Sandra Bland home. God did not call Matthew Shepard home. God does not call home the 250,000 people who die every year from poverty, nor the 40,000 people who died last year from gun violence. The thousands of people who have died in Puerto Rico from this [Trump] administration's racist neglect. All these folks may be at home with God, but they were snatched from our world far before their time."
"I know that in the promised land we're walking toward, no one dies at white supremacy's bloodied hands. And no one dies from poverty, and no one dies from homophobia, and no life is cut short by patriarchal violence. No seat is left empty because the person who used to sit in it was uninsured."
"God is alive in the tears that Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin weep for their son. And God was with Trayvon in the moment of his crucifixion. For as the Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas says, it is in the face of Trayvon dying on a sidewalk that we see Jesus dying on a cross. To know the extent of God's love, one must recognize Jesus in the face of Trayvon."
"[in prayer] We have not always loved ourselves. We have not always loved our neighbors. White people like myself have benefited from the system of white supremacy and have failed to end it in all times and all ways. Even today, our failure to pass sane gun reform has taken the lives that are still being counted in Milwaukee."
"We're not gonna let anyone turn us around because we know where we are headed. We're going towards a world where a black teenager buying snacks at a convenience store is not viewed as any more dangerous in a hood than I am right now."
Source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpbwaWEDcCg
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