Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 3:00pm in the Sanctuary of Hopps Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church located at 1110 State Street in Syracuse, New York for a “Multi-Faith Call to Prayer and Action.” This will be a brief time of lament, centering, and community building.
Saturday, May 14, 2022 was a day where the world will never be the same again. It was the day an 18-year old male white supremacist named Payton Gendron executed ten African Americans with an assault rifle in a Tops Supermarket located in Buffalo, New York. This was another anti-Black, racist, mass shooting. Gendron intentionally chose an area with a high concentration of African Americans to engage in this act of terror.
The impact of this sinful action has broken our hearts, shocked us with disbelief, incited anger, and infected many with fear and concern that this act can be replicated at any given time.
This is yet another reminder as to why we cannot keep silent about the devastating impact of systemic racism. Most of all, we must remain persistent and consistent in our resolve to dismantle it in our community, institutions, and world.
This is yet another reminder about why military assault rifles should not be accessible to all and why gun control legislation matters.
We can honor the lives of Roberta Drury, Pearl Young, Celestine Chaney, Andre Mackniel, Geraldine Talley, Aaron Salter, Ruth Whitfield, Katherine Massey, Heyward Patterson that were stolen by making the decision to prioritize the dismantling of systemic racism in our communities.
Most of all, we can honor their lives through the intentional listening to the experiences of Black Americans and listen carefully to how we can provide care, extend compassion, and be conduits of healing.
It is our hope that you will join us this coming Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 3:00pm in the Sanctuary of Hopps Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church located at 1110 State Street in Syracuse, New York for a “Multi-Faith Call to Prayer and Action.” This will be a brief time of lament, centering, and community building.
Rabbi Abraham Heschel marched alongside Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for voting rights in Selma and was asked “did you find time to pray?” Heschel said “I prayed with my feet.”
This will also be a time of praying through hopeful action. One expression of hopeful action will be through our generosity. We will receive a free-will offering to be given to VOICE-Buffalo. VOICE-Buffalo is the local community organizing network that is part of the Faith in Action Network in Buffalo, New York. VOICE-Buffalo can administer our generosity to those who need it most in an area that is deemed a food desert. Your generosity will help to ensure that the residents of East Buffalo will have sustainable food sources and other support where it is needed most. If you are writing a check please issue it to ACTS with “VOICE-Buffalo” in the subject line.
