The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thousands pray, protest near White House
WASHINGTON — Black Lives Matter Plaza was turned into a church Sunday morning, with thousands of mostly African American churchgoers praying, protesting, kneeling and dancing near the White House after marching from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
It was one of the largest faithbased events in the more than two weeks of protests that have consumed the nation’s capital since George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May, and it was the first big public event organized by black clergy. Organizers said that was due to extra caution in the African American community, which has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Mask Required! Safe Social Distancing Enforced,” instructed organizers from regional NAACP branches and Alexandria, Virginia’s historic Alfred Street Baptist Church, which has roots back to the time of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency. Marshals monitored safety. Demonstrators were spaced out in rows, and organizers frequently paused the flow of marchers to keep buffers between them. People bunched up in places but for the most part wore masks, including many with African-style patterns.
Alfred Street Pastor Howard-John Wesley said he and other clergy were also waiting for an event infused with prayer — and safety. The Trump administration forcibly removed protesters from the area near Lafayette Square on June 1, ahead of President Donald Trump’s photo opportunity at the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church. On Sunday, that show of federal force was replaced with prayer.
“We were waiting for a call for something not just incensed with anger but something that integrated our faith,” Wesley said. “We wanted to carve out something safe for teens — I was scared to let them come downtown. We wanted to teach them about protesting peacefully.”
And on Sunday that is what they did.
“It’s not rage or anger. God is here, and that’s hopeful,” he said.
That same ground near St. John’s was transformed by afternoon into a kaleidoscope of prayers, chants, singing and preaching from Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian faith leaders. Among them was the Rev. William Barber II, one of the country’s bestknown progressive clergy, who called for a “moral reconstruction” that pulls in people of all backgrounds and races and forces sweeping policy changes rather than moderate tweaks.
“The streets aren’t calling for moderate change,” Barber said in an interview. “God help us if we don’t.”
Meanwhile, the rapidly unfolding movement to take down Confederate statues in the U.S. grew over the weekend.
In Richmond, Virginia, a police SUV drove up on a curb and struck multiple protesters who were blocking the vehicle’s path during a demonstration Saturday night at the Robert E. Lee statue, which has become a gathering place for racial justice demonstrations. No one appeared to be seriously injured, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
In messages posted on Twitter early Sunday morning, the Richmond Police Department said police were investigating the incident, including what it called “a possible assault” on an officer who was inside the vehicle. The department said it was also investigating reports on social media “that a person in the crowd may have been struck by the vehicle.”
Spokespersons for the department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.
In Philadelphia, a group of about 100 people, some carrying guns and baseball bats, gathered around a statue of Christopher Columbus in Philadelphia on Saturday, saying they intended to protect it from vandals amid recent protests.
“It would be over my dead body before they got to this statue,” Anthony Ruggiero, 41, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “This is a part of history.”
Mayor Jim Kenney condemned the “groups of armed individuals ‘protecting’” the statue in a Twitter post Sunday.
Meanwhile, three people were charged in the vandalism of a Christopher Columbus statue in Providence, Rhode Island.
Protesters in New Orleans tore down a bust of a slave owner Saturday who left part of his fortune to New Orleans’ schools and then took the remains to the Mississippi River and rolled it down the banks into the water.
And in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation’s principal chief watched as two Confederate monuments were removed that were placed in its tribal headquarters nearly a century ago by the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Meanwhile, European protesters sought to show solidarity with their American counterparts and to confront bias in their own countries Sunday. The demonstrations also posed a challenge to policies intended to limit crowds to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
In Milan, Italy, protesters scrawled “rapist” and “racist” in Italian on the statue of a late Italian journalist who had acknowledged having had a 12-year-old Eritrean bride while stationed in the Italian colony on the horn of Africa in the 1930s. The statue of Indro Montanelli, inside a Milan park that bears his name, has been a flashpoint in Italy’s Black Lives Matter protests.
In Germany, protesters in Berlin on Sunday formed 5½-mile chain in a message against racism, among a range of other causes. Demonstrators were linked by colored ribbons, forming what organizers called a “ribbon of solidarity” that stretched southeast from the Brandenburg Gate to the Neukoelln neighborhood.