On May 25, George Floyd, a 46 year old black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. White police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down in the street, begging for his life and repeatedly saying "I can't breathe". A second and third officer further restrained Floyd while a fourth officer prevented bystanders from intervening. During the final three minutes Floyd was motionless and had no pulse while Chauvin ignored onlookers' pleas to remove his knee, which he did not do until medics told him to.  

Floyd’s crime? Attempting to buy cigarettes with an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

 Floyd's death has triggered demonstrations, protests, riots, looting and outrage in cities across the country and even around the world as demonstrators demand justice against police brutality, racism, and lack of police accountability. “Black lives matter” has become the collective rally cry of so many who feel anger, pain, frustration, disappointment, and sadness that these kinds of things still happen in the United States of America.

 Meanwhile, there’s the church. The body of Jesus Christ. And during this time, many believers have become exceptionally outspoken about the injustice of racial inequity in our society. Others acknowledge Floyd’s death as a tragedy, but feel that race may not have played a factor in his murder and condemn the protests as “race-baiting” and attempts by a polarized, radically divided society to further disunity and hatred.

But what does the gospel say about these issues? How we as followers of Jesus Christ to listen to, pray for, speak out for, and enter into the pain of our African-American brothers and sisters and neighbors?

 What does justice look like right now? Compassion? Understanding? Unity?