Breathe: Black Lives Matter
Grace and Mercy Will Bring Us Through
In broad daylight, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the Minneapolis Police Department callously and cruelly suffocated George Floyd using a chokehold which led to lack of blood flow to Mr. Floyd’s brain and caused his death. This incident is amongst so many other white supremacist violence that has taken the lives of far too many Black people. The death of George Floyd woke up the entire nation with great urgency in defense of Black lives to support the work of ending police brutality and white supremacy, and to bring forth a world order in which Black people are truly free and liberated.
The degradation of Black life, including the murder of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others before them is nothing new in American history. Our nation has regressed to its old racist habits. In recent decades, Black people have been the targets of an ill-conceived “war on drugs” that has torn Black families and has needlessly put hundreds of thousands of Black people behind bars, many of them who are in there for crimes they did not commit or wrongfully convicted. The list of such racial injustices is endless. That’s why it is so important for us to radically transform our laws and our nation in the direction of racial justice.
Although, we are going through the chaos in this world dealing with racism. I am reminded of the lyrics to this song “I’ve got so much to thank God for, So many blessings and so many open doors. A brand-new mercy, along with each new day, that’s why I praise You, for this, I give You praise. For every mountain, You brought me over, for every trial you’ve seen me through. For every blessing, Hallelujah, for this I give You praise”.
There are some days when the only thing we can say is Thank You Jesus for saving us from hurt, harm, and danger. When we just sit back and consider how good God has been to us, the times when we wanted to give up, but God gave us just enough strength to continue to press on despite racism. Amid this Coronavirus, amid wars and rumors of wars, racial injustices, God has kept us. God wakes us up each day, with the activity of our limbs and in our right mind, Hallelujah! We praise God for blessing us repeatedly. God is moving in our lives even when we don’t see Him. There shall be a great awakening for a CHANGE to come amongst the nation for a worldwide movement in which we will all be able to breathe better. I leave with you the noted Black philosopher Cornel West once said that “justice is what love looks like in public”.