By Emily McFarlan Miller
Religion News Service
Thousands marched and prayed June 2 in Chicago protesting police brutality and racial injustice. Many area clergy participated in the event, which was organized by Chris Harris, pastor of Bright Star Church, and more than a dozen other Christian and Jewish leaders from the city.
“We expected Chicago to show up. And it did: South Side, West Side, North Side, everybody came, peaceful, no drama,” Harris told Religion News Service.
“That’s what the church should represent. That’s what the temple should represent. That’s what the synagogue should represent. That’s what the mosque represents. That’s what the Baha’i temple represents. Chicago represents that, and we did it in the black metropolis, the great migration. That’s pretty amazing,” he said.
James Meeks of Salem Baptist Church was one of the protest’s organizers.
Meeks said that the message of the protest was to affirm that that the police officer that murdered Floyd should be held accountable and that complaints against police should be addressed in a transparent fashion – both in Chicago and in cities and towns across the country. He also emphasized the importance of peaceful protests in light of recent examples of demonstrations that became violent and destructive.
“It’s so important that people of faith put their faith on display,” Meeks said. “The Bible says faith without works is dead, and so we must have some works to go along with our faith.” (RNS)
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