I came from a black man and his heart is broken. George Floyd could’ve been my father, my brother, my boss, my pastor, any of my friends. And that breaks my heart. Yesterday my father left home to go to work and I wasn’t calm or at ease until he called and said he made it safely. The crazy thing about it was I wasn’t afraid of a car accident or a robbery. I was afraid of a traffic stop gone wrong. This week the world has watched the public murder of George Floyd by four policemen. Only one has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, the lightest charge given for taking someone’s life.
But I still have hope…
Sadly, that hope is extremely hard to hold onto right now. While the charge gives me hope, I need three more policemen to be charged immediately. My heart aches and my mind races as I try to come up with something inspirational. Nothing seems to help; I don’t have the answers on this one. We’ve have seen this happen time and time again and we are frustrated with the lack of justice our system seems to provide us with. The people we are supposed to look to and call on when we are in danger are the ones putting us in danger. So again I don’t have the answers, but I still have hope.
I have hope that my heavenly Father hears and still answers prayers. I have hope that one day we will have justice. I’m hopeful because this doesn’t catch God by surprise. We as a people have had alarming stages of injustice before and God carried us through it…
He was with us during slavery. He was with us during Jim Crow. He walked beside us through the Civil Rights Movement as we sang “We shall overcome someday!” I have no doubt He will be with us now as we once again scream for our lives saying “BLACK LIVES MATTER!”
I hear you saying “Well if He was there then why are we going through this?” I wish I had that answer for you, but I’m glad He was there. My hope is in the fact that He won’t leave us. Joshua 1:5 says, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Today my hope is in the fact that we are not where we used to be. Yes, it is awful, but some progress has been made.
Now I call on women of faith to cover and love on our men this week. If you know a man of color I ask that you talk with them and hear their hearts. Let them cry out and then cover them with prayer. They need our support; they need the freedom to grieve George Floyd without fear of judgment. I don’t have many prolific words today, but I know it’s time to pray.
I came from a black man and his heart is broken. George Floyd could’ve been my father, my brother, my boss, my pastor, any of my friends. And that breaks my heart. Yesterday my father left home to go to work and I wasn’t calm or at ease until he called and said he made it safely. The crazy thing about it was I wasn’t afraid of a car accident or a robbery. I was afraid of a traffic stop gone wrong. This week the world has watched the public murder of George Floyd by four policemen. Only one has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, the lightest charge given for taking someone’s life.
Beautifully written. Thank you for this message of hope in these difficult times!