Church, we say his name: Keenan Anderson.

Recently released body camera footage of the January 3rd murder of Keenan Anderson, a man, a father, and a teacher, revealed Anderson repeatedly begging for help as LAPD officers pinned him to the ground – elbow to his neck – and tased him over and again. Anderson, a Black man, fighting for his life at the hands of the police, yelled out, “They’re trying to George Floyd me.” And just a few hours later in the hospital, Anderson would go into cardiac arrest. And die. Officers had originally arrived at the scene simply for a traffic accident.

Keenan Anderson, we say your name. You did not deserve to die.

Black Lives Matter Los Angeles will be holding a candlelight vigil for Anderson this Saturday, January 14th, at 5 PM on the corner of Venice & Lincoln in Los Angeles. Those wishing to attend are invited to wear white and bring white candles and flowers.

Back in my home state of Arkansas, the newly elected governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, signed an executive order within hours of being sworn into office banning the term “Latinx” from official use in state government – potentially the first executive order of its kind. She also signed an order prohibiting Arkansas schools from teaching critical race theory.

Church: injustice is alive.

And it’s killing the futures of Black Lives. It’s stealing the humanity and dignity of our Latinx familia. It’s destroying the teaching and truth-telling of racism, not just a product of individual prejudice, but also a reality rooted and exploited in systemic policies and institutions – from the government to workplaces to churches and beyond – for centuries on end.

Church: we will not be silent.

In his book, Exclusion & Embrace, author Miroslav Volf writes of the “havoc wreaked by indifference,” a dangerous disaster he claims is “greater than that brought by felt, lived, practiced hatred.” Volf’s declaration contains echoes of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s stinging indictment of the greatest stumbling block to his Black sisters and brothers. In his “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, King points not to the Ku Klux Klan, but rather to the white moderate who “prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”

As a white man and pastor, I will not practice a negative peace. And as a Beloved Community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus, we will not participate in a “havoc wreaked by indifference.”

Church: our hearts will bleed. Our feet will move. And we will rise. Juntos y Juntas. As una familia.

As we intentionally lean into Rhythms of Justice this month, we’re holding the fullness and weight of all these terrible injustices. And not just those aforementioned, but we’re also honoring January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. And this Sunday, we’ll hear from our own Christine Cesa. Here’s a bit of what Christine will be sharing:

“January is Human Trafficking month. It’s the 2nd largest criminal industry in both the US and the world. It impacts people of all cultures, ages, genders, and socio-economic statuses. The BIPOC and LGBTQ community is trafficked at higher rates, and there are intersections including homelessness, poverty, abuse, and other types of violence and exploitation. Human trafficking happens in every community and does not discriminate.

The agency I work with (we are a survivor-led agency) sends care packages to 100 survivors every month. We could use affirmation cards to send to survivors. And we could use hundreds of them! Additionally, we could use gifts and essentials from an Amazon wish list we’ve created for the needs of our survivors.”

Part of what it means to practice justice together is to lean in together in every possible way we can. It may be moving your feet toward a candlelight vigil on Saturday. It may be joining us for our Sunday service and helping us make cards to send to survivors. It may be advocating in our spheres of influence for an active resistance to that which unjustly steals, kills, and destroys our neighbors and loved ones.

Whatever it may be, however it may look, just know the “who” of it all is never in question:

We are in this together, familia. You do not walk alone.

We stand for righteousness and justice together as one body, as one Beloved Community. And we will endlessly seek the justice of Jesus on earth, as it is in heaven. For that’s the Jesus we follow. That’s the church we’ll continue to be.

With faith, hope, and love,

Bobby