His name was George Floyd, and on May 25th he was publicly lynched by Minneapolis police. George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight after a grocery store clerk called the police because he thought George was passing a counterfeit $20 bill.  For eight minutes and forty-six seconds, George laid face down on the street while former officer Derek Chauvin continuously held his knee on George's neck as he was struggling to breathe, and while former officer Tou Thao stood by and did nothing but antagonize the crowd of onlookers.
     Even after it was clear that George had lost consciousness, Chauvin continued to choke him. Numerous bystanders pleaded with him and Thao to let George go as he repeatedly uttered the exact same phrase Eric Garner uttered as he was choked to death: "I can’t breathe.”
        But George's pleas were ignored and Chauvin refused to remove his knee from George's neck. After the murder, MPD called George's death a "medical problem." It wasn't until the video was released that we learned what actually happened. Not only did they lynch George in broad daylight, they compounded his lynching by trying to cover it up. Fortunately the video provided the evidence necessary to bring charges against all four former officers. 
   Charges are an important step on the long journey toward justice but charges do not mark the end of the road. We stand with the protesters and activist community who are calling for more concrete action from Mayor Jacob Frey, District Attorney Michael Freeman, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Governor Tim Walz.  George's state-sanctioned murder is the latest in a four-centuries old history of racial terror perpetrated against Black people in America. We refuse to remain silent because what we don't say could be used against us when we have to give our own account to God about our stewardship of this moment. As we pray for George's family and the city of Minneapolis we are also working to dismantle the system of White Supremacy that perpetuates this type of terror and trauma.
      To that end, we are advocating for tangible police and criminal justice reform, and if reform is not possible, the complete disbanding of the Minneapolis Police Department. We are encouraged by the actions of the University of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Department and the Minneapolis Public School System, all of whom have cut their institutional ties with the Minneapolis Police Department. We need similar courage in action from the City Council and Mayor Frey in Minneapolis, and mayors and city councils across the country, for the system that perpetuates violence against black people and black communities to be dismantled. 
     We condemn racism, white supremacy, and the inequalities that define life for far too many black people in America. We condemn the state-sanctioned violence of police and police impersonators that has taken the lives of Sean Reed, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless others this year alone. We condemn the homo and trans-phobia that allows for the abuse and murder of LGBTQ people like Iyanna Dior, Nina Pop and others. As people of faith we affirm that Black Lives Matter because every black life is created in the image of God and we will not rest until our divine worth is universally recognized in theory and in practice.