May the words of our mouths and the meditations of all of our hearts contribute to peace and justice in this world. I invite you at the end of each passage to speak these words in unison: We bear witness.
One year ago this morning, Mike Brown, the son of Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden, a father and a mother who loved their child, was breathing.
We bear witness.
One year ago today, Mike Brown, 18 years old, had just days before successfully graduated from high school.
We bear witness.
One year ago, at noon, Mike Brown, unarmed, living in a city with a police force that did not reflect the racial make-up of the community, where emails with racist content were shared regularly among law enforcement, where people of color were stopped for traffic violations at a much higher rate than their white fellow citizens, was shot and killed.
We bear witness.
One year ago, four and a half hours later, Mike Brown’s body lay where he fell, a pool of blood his pillow; neighbor children were protected by their parents and moved to rooms in their homes that did not look out onto that part of the street; cell phone cameras and twitter accounts focused on this image and shared it with the world.
We bear witness.
One year ago and ever since, our nation has been reeling. Every single day, except the day of Mike Brown’s funeral, there have been protests in the streets. A festering wound has surfaced again, reality for many all these long years, visible now to a wider swath of the nation and the world.
We bear witness.
We cannot turn away from the dire truth that too many people, especially too many Black and Brown people, lose their lives under suspicious circumstances at the hands of those entrusted to keep the peace or by those who “stand their ground.”
We bear witness.
On this one year anniversary of the death of Mike Brown, let us bear witness to all that our nation has lost in these lives which matter; let us bear witness to all that our nation might gain should we commit ourselves to doing our part to bend the moral arc of the universe towards racial justice.
We bear witness.
Amen.
***** ****** ****** ***** ***** ******
For many social justice actions across the nation in the past year, the symbolic time period of four and a half minutes – like the four and a half hours Mike Brown’s body lay in the street – has been powerful. This morning, we will use it for our prayerful time together.
This is, for our context, a long time. It is, in fact, too long – and yet, that is the point. It will likely make us uncomfortable – and yet, that is the point. This is a time in our nation when we must not push away our discomfort, but use it to fuel our capacity to change what is wrong.
To help us all of stay with this meditation, I will ring the chime once each minute in case – or when – minds wander. I will ring the chime three times at the end our meditation.
Should you be so moved during the meditation, a list of the names of unarmed Black people who “have been killed by police in the US” since Mike Brown’s death. There are 96 names because it was printed on Friday morning – less than 48 hours ago. Yet there is already a name missing: Christian Taylor, 19 years old, killed Friday evening in Arlington, Texas.
Let our holy stillness begin.
In an effort to honor Michael Brown’s life and all the black lives that have been taken by police and America’s other systems of racism, we list the names of unarmed black people killed by police since Michael Brown’s tragic death. We realize that this list only contains part of the picture of police violence against black people. We hope you will use it as a starting point for prayer and personal action.
Ezell Ford August 11, 2014
Dante Parker August 12, 2014
Corey Levert Tanner August 13, 2014
Levon Leroy Love August 17, 2014
Arvel Douglas Williams August 20, 2014
Rondre Lamar Hornbeak August 22, 2014
Veronica Woodard August 22, 2014
Briant Paula August 23, 2014
Cortez Washington August 26, 2014
Darrien Hunt September 10, 2014
Ricky Deangelo Hinkle September 13, 2014
Charles Smith September 18, 2014
Cameron Tillman September 23, 2014
Eugene Williams September 27, 2014
Oliver Jarrod Gregoire September 28, 2014
Latandra Ellington October 1, 2014
Lashano Gilbert October 4, 2014
Balantine Mbegbu October 6, 2014
Iretha Lilly October 7, 2014
Adam Ardett Madison October 17, 2014
Michael Ricardo Minor October 23, 2014
Florence White October 25, 2014
Christopher McCray October 27, 2014
Kaldrick Donald October 28, 2014
John T. Wilson III November 1, 2014
David Yearby November 2, 2014
Tanisha Anderson November 13, 2014
Keara Crowder November 18, 2015
Akai Gurley November 20, 2014
Tamir Rice November 22, 2014
Eric Ricks November 25, 2014
Rumain Brisbon December 2, 2014
Dennis Grigsby December 15, 2014
David Andre Scott December 27, 2014
Jerame Reid December 30, 2014
Matthew Ajibade January 1, 2015
Brian Pickett January 6, 2015
Andre Murphy Sr. January 7, 2015
Artago Howard January 8, 2015
Demaris Turner January 23, 2015
Alvin Haynes January 26, 2015
Jeremy Lett February 5, 2015
Natasha McKenna February 8, 2015
Terry Price February 21, 2015
Calvon Reid February 22, 2015
Glenn Lewis February 25, 2015
Charly Keunang March 1, 2015
Darrell Gatewood March 1, 2015
Thomas Allen Jr. March 1, 2015
Andrew Williams March 6, 2015
Bernard Moore March 6, 2015
Naeschylus Vinzant March 6, 2015
Tony Robinson March 6, 2015
Anthony Hill March 9, 2015
Terrance Moxley March 10, 2015
Jonathan Paul March 12, 2015
Askari Roberts March 17, 2015
Brandon Jones March 19, 2015
Denzel Brown March 22, 2015
Dominick Wise March 30, 2015
Phillip White March 31, 2015
Donald Ivy April 2, 2015
Eric Harris April 2, 2015
Walter Scott April 4, 2015
Freddie Gray April 12, 2015
Frank Shephard III April 15, 2015
Darrell Brown April 16, 2015
Norman Cooper April 19, 2015
David Felix April 25, 2015
Bryan Overstreet April 28, 2015
Brendon Glenn May 6, 2015
Jason Champion May 6, 2015
Nuwnah Laroche May 6, 2015
Sam Holmes May 8, 2015
DaJuan Graham May 12, 2015
Lorenzo Hayes May 13, 2015
Markus Clark May 20, 2015
Richard Davis May 31, 2015
Ross Anthony June 8, 2015
Alan Williams June 13, 2015
Kris Jackson June 15, 2015
Jermaine Benjamin June 16, 2015
Kevin Bajoie June 20, 2015
Spencer McCain June 25, 2015
Kevin Judson July 1, 2015
Jonathan Sanders July 8, 2015
Salvado Ellswood July 12, 2015
Sandra Bland July 13, 2015
Kindra Chapman July 14, 2015
Darrius Stewart July 17, 2015
Alexis McGovern July 17, 2015
Joyce Curnell July 23, 2015
Samuel DuBose July 19, 2015
Ralkina Jones July 26, 2015
Raynetta Turner July 27, 2015
Created by Karen G. Johnston, Erika Hewitt, and Kellie Kelly. Primary Sources were http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database, and http://www.rt.com/usa/311211-six-black-women-dead-police/.