Let us pray for peace beyond understanding to the family of Freddie Gray. Please give them respite from their sorrow, let them know justice for his slaying, and allow for them to forgive the men who trespassed on his life.
Let us pray that all the people brutalized senselessly by both criminals and lawless police officers in Baltimore, as well as elsewhere, are able to gain the peace from fear they haven’t seen for a long long time.
Let us pray for those officers and teachers who do well by our children, let them shine as guiding lights for those with whom they serve. Let us also pray for the souls of those who don’t or worse, stand idly by. Let them change — or move out of the way.
Let us pray for our children in Baltimore, who like so many young men and women in America, have been condemned to poverty and prisons by American public education and criminal justice systems.
Most of all, let’s pray for our young black sons in Baltimore and elsewhere.
Pray that our young black men in Baltimore and elsewhere can be measured by the content of their character.
Pray that all who deal with them behold their genius and nurture it, instead of be frightened by what they think they are.
Pray that they see hope even in hopelessness, glory even in the midst of the fire, and possibility in the middle of the storm.
Pray for a day in which they don’t have to mourn for peers named Emmett, named Yusuf, named Trayvon, named Michael, named Tamir, and named Freddie.
And as we pray, we all take action, turning righteous indignation into positive change. Transform our schools and overhaul our justice systems. Build up every young man that we see. Help our children know their own names.
There are too many Baltimores, both in big cities and in our suburbias. Take the time now to do better by every Freddie and every child.