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“Peace on the left, Justice on the right.” It is a chant that rang through the streets of Minneapolis last week as the brother of George Floyd called on the people to, “get out and vote, educate themselves and demand justice peacefully.”

I have really found this past week a bit surreal. As a person who came of age in the 70’s, and remembers the Watt Riots, Martin Luther King Jr, and the gains made for minorities during the civil rights movement in the States and around the world; I thought that somehow we were better than this.

As a young adult, I remember the work of the United Church to end Apartheid in South Africa and one of my proudest moments as a minister was, the Sunday following the election of Barack Obama, preaching on what a symbol of hope that was for a world that had been seeking racial equality for so many years.
It is was with a heavy heart and an exhausted soul that I saw the images on the TV of police brutality motivated by racism and the explosion of people around the world saying, “We have had enough. We just aren’t going to stand for this any longer.”

And then I breathe in deep with the realization that, although the world has made many gains – racism is still systemic and endemic in many of our public institutions. I wish I could say that Canada is immune to this kind of behavior but I can’t. We too have a lot of work to do to combat racism towards a number of different ethnic groups.

But I am also inspired by how many people I know in the church and the community who are appalled at what is going on in the world. To most of us, Black lives do matter. My hope is that we will continue the work towards equality that was begun so long ago.

Our outrage at yet another innocent black person killed by the institution that is supposed to protect us is a good thing. Over a thousand people are killed by police forces in America ever year. Even here in Canada, people of minority are regularly targeted for interrogation by the police, just because of the colour of their skin and the prejudices we hold. But many of us are committed to change and that is a good thing.

We know, and our faith upholds this, that peace is not possible without justice. And so we reach out to people of minority in our social circles to learn more about their lived experience, we educate ourselves about discrimination and the effects it has on children and adults of colour and I believe, most importantly, we pray for justice in a transformed world where every life matters and our institutions enforce that belief. Our work is not done, but together, with God as our partner, we can make a difference.

May it be so, Wayne