Faith leaders in metro Detroit call for justice and peace

Faith leaders across metro Detroit are calling for justice, and peace, after the death of George Floyd at the hand of a white police officer in Minnesota.

Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders are standing in solidarity with the African American community and have held interfaith gatherings and news conferences, and put out statements condemning the death of Floyd who died when a police officer held a knee down on his neck for several minutes. 

In Detroit on Sunday at Greater New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, rabbis, an imam and the Rev. Kenneth Flowers spoke out against the injustices that African Americans face while calling for peace.

In Dearborn, Muslim faith leaders, Arab American advocates with the Arab American Civil Rights League, as well as the Dearborn mayor and police chief, also criticized the death of Floyd at a news conference on Sunday outside the Dearborn Police Station. 

Also on Sunday, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, Rt. Rev. Bonnie Perry, preached: "George Floyd. Say his name. We cannot be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and crush the life out of another. We cannot tolerate a world, where videos reveal one and we choose to pretend other."

And on Monday, the Imams Council of Michigan released a statement on behalf of Islamic clerics calling the death of Floyd "criminal and unjustified."

During Sunday services broadcast online at Greater New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, Jewish leaders said they stand with the black community. The church has a predominantly African American congregation.

"On behalf of the Jewish community of Detroit ... we are with you at this time, we are with you forever," said Rabbi Asher Lopatin, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of metro Detroit/American Jewish Committee. "We are with the African American community, with all the communities that are discriminated against."

"When George Floyd said those terrible words, 'I can't breathe,' when Eric Garner said those terrible words, 'I can't breathe,' we have to remember that we can't breathe," Lopatin said.

Rabbi Daniel Schwartz, of Temple Shir Shalom and the incoming president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, also spoke at the church, saying: "I want you to know that you are not along in your pain ... you are not alone in your fear. ... I stand here today to say we must do better."

Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, of the Islamic House of Wisdom, said at the church that the death of Floyd was a case of "unbelievable brutality" that "shocked the world."

"There was no justification ... to kneel on Floyd's neck," Elahi said. 

In his remarks, Flowers said "As a black man living in America, I'm tired of these modern-day lynchings. I'm tired of being treated unfairly and un-trusted based on the color of my skin."

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Flowers said that when he gets pulled over for speeding, "my heart drops not because I'm afraid of getting a ticket" but because of "not knowing if that traffic stop will result in violence and me losing my life."

Flowers also called for peaceful demonstrations. He was previously a pastor in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots and remembers the devastation. "America is being ripped apart" almost 30 years later after the death of Floyd," Flowers said.

Flowers said he spoke Saturday night with Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon and Detroit Deputy Police Chief Todd Bettison, saying they want to send a message that they support the protesters, "but in a peaceful, law abiding away and that everything is done in a nonviolent way."

He commended them for "working to keep the peace in the city."

Through the weekend, Detroit had not seen the widespread looting and vandalism seen in other cities across the U.S.

"I call upon you also," Flowers said, "if you are looting, we urge you to stop the looting now, we do not do any justice to our cause by burning buildings, burning the police cars and looting in the neighborhoods."

"Let us strive to keep the peace, and stop the looting, and stop the violence," Flowers said. 

The Rev. Steven Bland, pastor of Liberty Temple Baptist Church in Detroit and president of the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit & Vicinity, said at the Dearborn news conference: "If it happened to George Floyd, it can happen to anyone of us."

Also at the Dearborn event, Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad said that the officer's actions against Floyd was "the most despicable, indefensible, and incomprehensible action by a human being against a human being."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or 313-223-4792. Twitter @nwarikoo