By Jill Riley
(June 3, 2020)—Pastors from throughout the region joined together to “bear silent witness” yesterday in a march in Minneapolis that concluded at the location where George Floyd was killed on May 25. Nearly 40 Covenant pastors from the Northwest Conference participated in the event in a crowd that spanned several city blocks.
The silent march was organized by African American ministers. “It was a very calm and prayerful march,” Kara Stromberg, associate superintendent of the Northwest Conference, says. “It was reverent with a sense of lament. We knew we were bearing witness to something significant.” Stromberg says the crowd represented a cross-section of faith traditions including Jewish leaders and many evangelical and mainline leaders. Participants wore masks and practiced social distancing.
“The African American clergy led the march and everybody else fell in line behind, as if to say, ‘We have your backs,’” Stromberg says. When they reached the place where George Floyd died, the crowd knelt together and recited the Lord’s Prayer.
Mary March, who serves as co-pastor of New City Covenant Church in the southwest suburbs of Minneapolis and chairs the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Mosaic Commission, says it was a solemn and peaceful event. “It was a mix of mournful and hopeful,” she says. “These days have been heavy and hard. There is a lot of pain, but this was a beautiful moment. We were seeing people show up, saying, ‘Count me in. I’m done being quiet and still and inactive.’” The video of George Floyd’s murder broke some people, March says. “The question now is how do we use our brokenness and lead our pastors to do advocacy, influence power structures, and change the way we address systemic racial issues? That’s the work that needs to be done.”
“It was a reminder to show up and stand for justice and not be silent,” Stromberg says. “It was also an invitation for accountability going forward. Months and years from now communities of color have every right to ask if white leaders still stand with them like we did that day.”
