Photo Credit Reverend Varghese
Reverend Winnie Varghese at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, NYC, has an 8′ banner hanging from the portico of her church. The banner says, “Black Lives Matter”, and it was placed in support of Garner, Rice, Gurley, Brown, and even more, less recent and less well known, victims of police violence.
Reverend Varghese writes about the action at the Huffington Post, and makes a request; that all churches join them in solidarity and support.
From HuffPost:
We believe quite simply that Black Lives Matter. We say Black, not All, because the sacredness of all life isn’t on the line right now in the United States of America. Some of us are extremely vulnerable to the police, and if we are found dead, we will be criminalized in retrospect, not mourned. It is not an aberration, or about a rogue cop. It is the nature of the racist system we arm and fund as Americans.
So, as one small part of the struggle to end this generation’s lynching of Black people, I am asking all of you that have buildings to let the world know what the people in those buildings believe or aspire to believe. Let our communities know that our law abiding, non-violent response does not mean that we agree that Black people should be killed with impunity in our communities.
Has Eric Garner found his way into your sermons or discussion at coffee hour? Do you feel comfortable talking about this, or hearing about it, in your church? Would your church be willing to post a banner like St Mark’s?
Posted by David Streever