(ChurchLeaders) Prayer largely replaced protest Sunday at the newly christened Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C. In a gathering organized by African-American clergy, thousands of mostly black worshipers marched, prayed, sang, and danced in what media reports called a hope-filled celebration.
As prayer walk participants made their way from the National Museum of African American History and Culture to Lafayette Square in the morning, they prayed blessings on the nationwide protest movement, chanted the names of black people killed in police custody, and discussed the need for social reforms. Marchers played instruments, wrote messages with sidewalk chalk, and occasionally interacted with police officers.