Call for the Wailing Women: A Wail for our Sons
Come Join Our Wailing Women Workshop & Prayer
Saturday, March 10th from 8:00-9:30am ET
Saturday August 9, 2014, Michael Brown was on his way to his grandmother’s house in the city of Ferguson, Missouri when he was gunned down at about 2:15 p.m.
Trayvon Benjamin Martin, 17, an African American was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in Sanford, Florida.
Dontre Hamilton, 31, was fatally shot 14 times by a police officer in a Milwaukee park. The officer was responding to a call from employees at a nearby Starbucks alleging that Hamilton, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was disturbing the peace.
Eric Garner, 43, was killed after he was put in an illegal chokehold for 15 seconds by a white police officer — allegedly for selling loose cigarettes. Garner said, "I can't breathe" 11 times as he was held down by several officers on a sidewalk.
U.S. police killed at least 258 black people in 2016, according to a project by The Guardian that tracks police killings in America. Thirty-nine people were unarmed. Four were killed by police stun guns and another nine died in custody, a continuing problem in American jails. The majority of black people killed by police were fatally shot.
I attended a forum a couple years ago in St. Louis during the Church Of God In Christ Holy Convocation. Bishop Charles Edward Blake asked for anyone who had lost a family member due to gun violence to stand. I was astonished when I saw more than two thirds of the room rise to their feet. Then Bishop Blake asked for anyone who knew someone personally affected by gun violence to stand and I believe the entire room stood up.
While there are so many social and moral issues plaguing our sons today, violence has become one of the most pervasive. It is difficult to find someone that has not been directly or indirectly affected by violence. Mothers, fathers, siblings, friends and a host of loved ones are left behind to bear the hurt and pain of their loss.
A wail is heard ringing in the streets for the blood of our sons, lost to this senseless violence, like the blood of Abel that cried from the ground to God. While I personally did not bear any male children, I accept the invitation to utter up a wail for my sisters who have sons – a wail lasting through the night as we pray our sons make it to adulthood. We share in their tears and frustration. This senseless violence is not a problem we can shelve, nor an issue we can slough off. This is an overwhelming grief that refuses to be ignored or denied or simply tucked away. We take up a wail for our sons!