Church Not As Usual Rally 12/14/14

     Last weekend was a weekend full of protest! As you all know, the Millions March was on Saturday.

Sunday was "Church Not Usual" Rally. Organized by Chrissy Andre, Jube Onyame Charles and Barbara Florvil, We "brought our concerns, our frustration, our anger, our hope, but most of all, our collective voices  so that we as one body would be heard loud and clear. Christians of varied denominations stood in the gap, and were God's earthly extension of love and justice." The mission of this rally was to show the world that the Church has not ignored the issues of our society. By "The Church" I'm not speaking of the "Reverend" Al Sharpton. The Word teaches us to "love thy neighbor" but as a believer myself it was hard to apply that notion to my life in these trying times. I was conflicted. I'm supposed to love the people spilling the blood of my people? Really Jesus?!

      Jesus was not blind to injustices and wrong doings. That's why He flipped the tables in the temple! (Matthew 21:12) If Jesus could flip a table, we can shout and air our voices unto the people! I was ready to flip a table!

     At 1pm a small number of us met at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York. We had our signs and stood facing oncoming cars chanting phrases of justice. 5 minutes into our chanting, a driver passing by looked me in the eye and raised a strong middle finger at me. I was shocked! But I knew because of ignorance like that I had to keep going. 10 minutes later, NYPD Community Affairs pulled up and warned us that "humans will be humans" and we should move away from the edge of the yellow traffic line to avoid any incident. 

     We chanted for another hour straight before Chrissy Andre prepped us for our march to Brooklyn Supreme Court.

We walked down Flatbush Avenue. We paused at Barclays Center and continued on through Fulton Street Mall. Chants included:

"No Justice No Peace! No racist police!"
"Hands Up, Dont shoot!"

"NYPD! We want human dignity!"

"What do we want? JUSTICE! When do we want it? NOW! If we don't get it, SHUT IT DOWN!"

We arrived to Brooklyn Supreme Court where we read all the names of the lives taken by the police. We read each name aloud and stood in the shape of a cross and shared a moment of silent for 11 minutes representing every time Eric Garner shouted "I cant breathe."

     It was the most powerful 11 minutes of the entire protest. To me, every minute was excruciatingly long. We honored Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and every single life gone too soon. 

     We were 50 in total, yet there were 2 officers for every one person. During our closing prayer, we were drowned out by the helicopter hovering over us. Throughout the entire protest from Grand Army Plaza to Brooklyn Supreme Court we encountered the helicopter, 3 vans, an undercover car, a jeep and 2 stand by police cars. For our group of 50! This alone proves to me that the police know what we're capable of. They are well aware of the power and the force that is within us. Which is why they were well prepared if we decided to fight back, 

Instead of fighting back, we put our faiths together and we prayed. We prayed for change. We prayed for peace. 

Above all, we prayed for justice. 

I look forward to future gatherings and rallies praying for peace, the protection of our people, and our justice system. There is nothing impossible for the God we serve. Change will come.

Love always,

Evelyn 

"Stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." - Isaiah 1:16-17