Statement of Covenant Presbyterian Church on the Murder of George Floyd

We, the congregation of Covenant Presbyterian Church, stand appalled at the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of officers on the Minneapolis Police Department. His murder is a sad reflection of the systemic racism that mars America’s promise of liberty and justice for all. George Floyd is only one of the latest in a sad legacy of lives cut short by police brutality and racism. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Walter Scott, Rayshard Brooks and many others also have sadly become household names in recent years because of our country’s original sin. We cry for all other such victims and their families, those whose names we know and those whose names are lost to history, but not to God’s sight. We pray that local police respect the rights of all Americans to peacefully assemble and that U.S. military not be a part of the response to the community protests. Our congregation has had a long history of standing alongside those in need, the marginalized and the oppressed. That continues today. As a Matthew 25 church, we pledge ourselves to advocate and act “to break down the systems, practices and thinking that underlie discrimination, bias, prejudice and the oppression of people of color." We urge members of our congregation to condemn the oppression of people of color, whether perpetrated through physical force, unjust and regressive economic policies or unequal opportunities in education and the workplace.