{"id":3680,"date":"2020-06-12T23:14:10","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T21:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3680"},"modified":"2020-08-29T14:57:36","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T12:57:36","slug":"black-lives-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/2020\/06\/black-lives-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Lives Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A personal perspective<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The events that have unfolded since George Floyd\u2019s very public killing has caused me to catch my breath, pause \u2014 pause, and exhale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Revd Dr Catherine Okoronkwo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a writer I often find myself penning a poem to process my thoughts and feelings in response to confronting issues. The rawness of my poetry at this time reflects the place of pause I find myself in as I catch my breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in writing these poems, I realise that not a thousand words nor a single word can fully articulate my strength of emotion. Like a wound that is constantly scabbed in my day-to-day lived experiences, the reality of life as a black woman is magnified again and again when public events like the George Floyd case occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a person of colour, I\u2019ve experienced a range of emotions in the last few weeks: tired, crushed, angry, frustrated, bewildered. My parents lived with racial injustice. I live with racial injustice. And, if things don\u2019t change, my daughter\u2019s generation will live with racial injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s incredible that, in 2020, we still witness persecution and aggression against people of colour. Black and brown skinned people have endured decades of injustices. In recent history we note: the deaths of Stephen Lawrence and Mark Duggan (among countless others), the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Windrush scandal, an increase in knife crimes among black youths, and the higher impact of Covid-19 deaths on key workers from BAME backgrounds. How many more black and brown lives have to be lost before we work together \u2013 black, brown, and white \u2013 to see a real change in society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In this place of pause, I reflect on the Church\u2019s response. I\u2019ve been encouraged by the Archbishops\u2019 and Bishops\u2019 statements expressing solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. But statements and tweets are not enough, in that, for the Church to communicate a commitment to diversity, the Church needs to examine its own systems, structures and leadership. It is vitally important for Christians and churches to intentionally show up and show out at this juncture in history.  Throughout Jesus\u2019 earthly ministry, we observe that Jesus came to be a voice for the voiceless and to transform the lives of the oppressed and wounded \u2013 as Christians we know that every life matters, deeply. And thus, black lives must matter too! When black lives are systemically devalued by society, through institutionally racist systems and structures, there should be an outpouring of outrage in our communities. Even if our churches are majority white, many of these churches are located in (or in close proximity to) communities where our friends, neighbours, shopkeepers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, nurses, cleaners, care workers, and other brown and black skinned people live and work. But even if we live in a remote white-only village, if we want to live in a society that offers human flourishing for all people, this issue affects us all. When Christians stand together to say \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d, we offer a Christ-model that teaches we are all made in the image of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because every life has value in God\u2019s eyes, and because we are called to be God\u2019s love and compassion \u2013 that walking towards the pain of \u2018the other\u2019 \u2013 there are a number of ways in which we can respond to racial injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n