On this Tuesday afternoon in the Hennepin County, Minnesota courtroom at 5:06 pm ET, the word came to us at 5:06 pm ET., Brother George Floyd’s murderer was found guilty on all three counts. Philonese Floyd, brother of George, said, “I have faith and I believe in God, so I was optimistic and I kept saying we will get justice, we’ll get it. Just sitting in there and listening to those words – guilty, guilty, and guilty on all counts – that was a moment that I will never be able to relive. I will always have inside of me. It’s just, being able to know that, it’s justice for African-American people, just people of color, period, in this world. This is monumental. This is historic. This is a pivotal moment in history,” he said.
The Floyd family lawyer pointed to the anti-racist tradition of America as stated in the “Declaration of Independence:”
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men
On this very day in 1865, Reverend Stephen Tyng gave a funeral oration for Abraham Lincoln. He preached,”There may be great difficulties in the details of the resuscitation of our afflicted land, but there can be none which such a spirit and purpose as were displayed in President Lincoln would not soon overcome. And upon nothing will memory more delight to dwell than upon that high, forgiving temper, which lifts up a fallen foe, restores a wandering brother, and repays the cruelty of hatred by an overcoming benignity and love.”
Eleven months ago, on Tuesday evening June 2, 2020, a protest gathering in Brooklyn of almost 100 mostly evangelical churches prayed for justice for George Floyd and remembered by name a long list of Black victims of police violence.
The crowd also prayed for peace between the protestors and the police and that some police would be moved to intervene if they saw other police mistreating protestors.
Here, the church leaders of 5th Avenue, Manhattan joined the outer borough leaders at 5th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn. This meeting, hosted by Bridge Church NYC, showed the ever-deepening responses to the the cruel treatment of Floyd and other African Americans. The event may also end up re-writing the text for New York City church life.
After the rally in Brooklyn, social media exchanges reflected on the uniqueness of the occasion. For example, Redeemer East Side’s Abraham Cho exchanged greetings with Jeremy Del Rio, the founder of the education and art Thrive Collective, saying, “I have heard of you and am glad to finally meet you.” When churches start to network, you get mobility of resources, cross-pollination of ideas, and a palpable sense of emotional energy and religious direction. Their cross-geographical and cross-racial mobilization can end up being a pivot point in a religious movement.
When a photo of Floyd holding his Bible up high was circulated in New York City, the two social problems of rigid secularism and racism were highlighted for some evangelicals. The message was that rigid secularism threatens to weaken the heart of the poor and oppressed while police brutality kills the body. Racial segregation is also deep in the neighborhoods and schools of New York City but not at this rally.
Photos by David Jaeil Kim.
