I’m Rev. Angie Wright speaking on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries to extend the hand of welcome, solidarity and join in the call for truth and reconciliation.
For 46 years, GBM has worked tirelessly for justice and mercy and to lift up the voices of the victims of neglect, poverty and abuse of power. GBM has met individuals in their hour of suffering, sought to alleviate that suffering, and then worked to identify causes of that suffering. Often the causes of individual suffering are tied to large, systemic, institutional principalities and powers. Sometimes those principalities and powers cross borders, and that is why we are here today.
Today GBM joins hands with the members of Caravana43 to bring compassion to those who are suffering at the hands of the state.
We are here because we believe, as the apostle Paul said, we are one body. When one suffers, all suffer. When one rejoices, we all rejoice together.
We are here because we believe, as MLK said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are here to make common cause with the families of the 43 students who disappeared at the hands of the state.
We are here to make common cause with victims of state and police violence and the abuse of power, whether it is in Birmingham, across the country or across our borders.
We stand here today in the shadow of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who founded Alabama Movement for Human Rights. His legacy is why we stand here today.
The walls around Kelly Ingram Park announce this holy ground as “a place of revolution and reconciliation.” May it be so.
