Helicopters in the air
Triggering my fears What's next comes the rubber bullets Piercing my body like they pierced Jesus Crying out for momma to behold thy son I can't breathe They don't even need guns
Castrate our bodies from the lynching trees
Cut off my lungs 10 minutes with his knees Crying out for momma I can't breathe
Hands in his pockets with a grin on his face
Resentment for my race as my life slips away
Cameras recording America don't care Black Lives Don't Matter Even when our murders are broadcast on air
Evidence before the judge and no convictions to be seen
Yellow tapes, chalk stains on the crime scenes
Blood stains cry out from these Trumpanian streets
Profit over people We don't care if they die Fuck COVID-19 Let the fittest survive Translate that to mean wealthy and the 1%
They say they cut us them checks Black and Brown folks still can't pay rent In the Food Bank line trying to make ends meet
Trying to make it to work but the curfew ends at nine
Can't catch the bus because Lori shut down the lines
Martin says a riot is the language of the unheard
This Pentecost Holy Ghost fire came down and cities burned
Maybe this is the new birth of the Church we wish to see
To get us out of them pews and into the streets
A nightmare of hashtags trending haunting me
Kendrick Lamar won't you sing for me Hear that base drop and I start to believe We gonna be alright even if we must die Claude McKay said let it be nobly done Fighting back For the generations to come
Lamentations Lift every voice to a rising sun
James Weldon Johnson declared victory is won
Cut off my lungs 10 minutes with his knees Crying out for momma I can't breathe...
Credit: Rev. Dr. Waltrina N. Middleton
Audio: Click here to listen to Rev. Dr. Middleton's reading of Pentecost: Prayers and Protest.
Jesus Christ, Son of God, who promised in your first sermon to break the chains of the oppressed and to set the prisoners free, break apart our wrecked and ruinous criminal (in)justice system. Do not let profits strangle your prophets any longer, but be with us and teach us not to tolerate these practices from this day forward. May we not only visit the sick and imprisoned but support smart legislation, protest, and incline our hearts towards rehabilitative justice and the abolition of human cages, that all may know the freedom from judgment that only Christ can bring. Amen
Credit: Kenji Kuramitsu
Kuramitsu, Kenji. 2017. A Booklet of Uncommon Prayer: Collects for the #BlackLivesMatter Movement - and Beyond. Evangelicals for Social Action.
Protector and Servant of the Oppressed, whose Child was pierced with metal by militarized police, we know that wherever there is a broken body, wherever there are tears, you are there. May your holy and life-giving Spirit so move every human heart that all racial barriers that divide us would crumble. May those who have been ordained to protect and serve repent of their violence, that they may join with us in the new life you have promised in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Credit: Kenji Kuramitsu
Kuramitsu, Kenji. 2017. A Booklet of Uncommon Prayer: Collects for the #BlackLivesMatter Movement - and Beyond. Evangelicals for Social Action.