BALTIMORE — Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore joined faith
leaders from across the city June 3 to pray for peace and healing after more
than a week of nationwide protests and unrest in response to the May 25 death
of George Floyd while in police custody.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic keeping most Marylanders inside
their homes, about 250 masked people filled the park outside St. Vincent de
Paul Church in the heart of downtown near the Baltimore Police Headquarters and
City Hall. The event also was livestreamed on Facebook, where it was viewed
more than 7,900 times.
A group of Lutheran parishioners held banners reading
"Racism Is a Sin" and "Thoughts and Prayers and Action."
Catholic priests such as Father Joshua Laws, pastor of the Catholic Community
of South Baltimore, held homemade protests signs. His read, "Black Lives
Matter."
"The spectacle of the killing of George Floyd that outraged
the country once again has shaken us from the mount behind the walls where we
so readily hide," Archbishop Lori said as he opened the service. "But
we are confronted with the ongoing suffering of people of color who suffer from
the sin of racism.
"We felt compelled to come together in this moment,
compelled to come together with our elected officials, our civic leaders and
members of our congregation simply to pray."
Faith leaders from Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities
attended the service along with local leaders, including Baltimore Police
Commissioner Michael Harrison, U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Maryland, and City
Councilman Eric Costello.
"Certainly, we are in tough times, tumultuous times, and
much, if not most, of what we are feeling is because of law enforcement,"
Harrison said. "It is our duty and our responsibility to be proactive, to
bring about change. And so we are certainly happy to be a part of an interfaith
prayer service, because prayer is the thing that gives us hope that we can get
better, that we can heal, and that we can change."
The faith leaders and community members offered nine prayers to
symbolize the nearly nine minutes Floyd suffered as Minneapolis police officer
Derek Chauvin restrained him on the ground by putting his knee against Floyd's
neck, cutting off his breathing.
Darlene Cain, whose son was killed by a Baltimore City police
officer, offered a prayer for Floyd, urging healing between the police and the
community.
"We're here for the hurt that we feel for George Floyd. We
are here hurting, God, our families, our children," Cain prayed. "For
all that's gone on, all the video that's gone viral. God help us. God help us
to believe that we're going to be all right again one day."
Ray Kelly, a parishioner of St. Peter Claver in West Baltimore
and director of the Citizens Policing Project, offered a prayer for the city
and called for the just treatment of all.
"As I pray for our city and our residents, I hope this
demonstration and service today is also a reminder that we have strength, we've
walked this path before and we are enduring this type of situation with the
utmost legitimacy," he said.
The service ended with a solemn nine minutes of silence
interrupted every minute by the sound of a single bell tolling. Many who
attended bowed their heads and kneeled.
Floyd's death was recorded by bystanders and the video has been
viewed around the world by millions. Bystanders repeatedly pleaded with
officers to let up on Floyd as he struggled to breathe and Floyd himself can be
heard on the video begging for help.
Police officers said Floyd appeared to be visibly drunk and had
used a counterfeit $20 earlier in the day. An autopsy commissioned by his
family found that Floyd died of asphyxiation. However, the medical examiner
determined the cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest or heart failure.
Four officers were involved in the arrest of Floyd and all were
fired. Chauvin was the first to be arrested, some days later, on May 29, and
charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, but June 3 the murder charge
was upgraded to second degree. The same day the other three officers — Thomas
Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao — were
arrested and charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and
manslaughter.
The delays in arresting and charging the officers — along with
years of other deaths of black people in the custody of police officers — helped fuel the nationwide protests that have
grown to include almost every major U.S. city.
Protesters are calling for an end to the police brutality that
disproportionately targets people of color. They also are demanding all
Americans address issues of systemic racism affecting access to quality health
care, housing, education and employment.
While Baltimore experienced widespread unrest and destruction of
property after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in 2015, the current
demonstrations in the city have largely been peaceful.
Indeed, when a group of protesters marched past St. Vincent de
Paul Church and Baltimore Police Headquarters chanting "No Justice. No
Peace" people at the prayer service applauded and cheered. "We are
the protesters," said the Rev. Brenda White, the pastor of Allen AME
Church in West Baltimore, who attended the service. "This is where we
decide that we are going to represent Christ and love to protest the status
quo. Who would be indifferent? So the mere fact that we are here, it is a
protest against evil."
And she had some encouragement for protesters as the
demonstrations continued.
"Do it with grit and grace. Be determined to be resilient
and show the shape of God's law and God's compassion for this world," Rev.
White said.
Swift is the social media coordinator for the Catholic
Review and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.