Strident and angry calls for justice in the wake of a Minneapolis police officer's killing of a black man were replaced Saturday morning by prayers for healing and unity in Colorado Springs.
Led by local pastors Bob Bender of Cross Fellowship Church and Kelly M. Williams of Vanguard Church, hundreds gathered in a steady rain in Acacia Park to join in song and kneel together in prayer.
They then walked to City Hall along the same downtown streets that hundreds of protesters had taken to in the past week to decry the killing of George Floyd, who died pinned to the ground handcuffed while a policeman kept his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes.
His dying words, "I can't breathe," have become a rallying cry for protesters around the country marching through cities demanding an end to racial inequality and police brutality.
"This came about, obviously, out of concern for our country and our city because of racial reconciliation," Bender said. "The need for the church, the greater church, to come together as one to take a stand."
Laura Schwarz, middle, raises her arms in song and worship during a Prayer Gathering for racial healing at Acacia Park in downtown Colorado Sp…
The prayer gathering came on the eighth day of continuous protests in Colorado Springs that began May 30 with more than 1,000 people marching downtown.
In the first few days, peaceful, loud and oftentimes profane daytime demonstrations ended in confrontations with police, who used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse nighttime crowds outside the Police Operations Center.
Several dozen arrests have been made but the only injury so far was to a woman who was struck by a car Wednesday while protesters blocked Cascade Avenue. She remained hospitalized with serious injuries, according to the last update from police, who were seeking video of the incident.
A curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Monday has since been imposed and leaders of the demonstrations have implored protesters to comply with the order after holding candlelight vigils at City Hall and Acacia Park in recent nights.
During the hourlong prayer gathering Saturday, pastors spoke not of anger, but of offering support, love and trust to each other while the nation remains torn, convulsed by protests, looting and violent encounters with police.
MORE COVERAGE
In light of protests, military probes racism in ranks | Tom Roeder
PHOTOS: Prayer Gathering for Racial Healing
VIDEO | Demanding Justice - More than a 1,000 march in Colorado Springs
"For those of us who walk in faith, we should be leading the process of repentance and healing," said Stephany Rose Spaulding, pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Colorado Springs.
"It's extremely difficult, extremely hard as an African-American woman knowing that systems of racism and sexism put my life in danger in this very city," she continued. "But I recognize that it does not have to be that way and I refuse to sit by idly and not do work."
Though the prayer gathering was in response to protests about Floyd's death, Williams, one of the event organizers, said afterward it was also meant to honor De'Von Bailey.
Bailey was fatally shot in the back last summer while fleeing two Colorado Springs police officers who had stopped him and his cousin to question them about a report of an armed robber.
Bailey, 19, was shot four times in the back. The officers said they feared Bailey was reaching for a weapon as he ran, and a pistol was found in the pocket of his shorts as he lay dying.
The shooting was ruled justified but has been an open wound for the city's minority community. Some protesters during the demonstrations over Floyd's have invoked Bailey's name as well.
"We have not forgotten about that issue," Williams said.
Your Privacy Choices