CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE June 5, 2020
On Friday afternoon, members of the local clergy as well as some of their parishioners turned out on Shawville’s rue Main on Friday to protest police violence.
Organized by Rev. Susan Lewis of the . . .
Anglican Parish of West Pontiac, the event featured participants standing on the sidewalk in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time a Minneapolis police officer had his knee on George Floyd’s neck. The video of Floyd’s killing, and the protests that resulted, have swept across the US and the rest of the world over the past week, resulting in numerous demonstrations and vigils.
“We often preach on the fact that we’re all called to be human beings, to have compassion towards each other, that’s what Jesus calls us to, it’s who we are made to be, we are one humanity,” Lewis said. “The events of the past week have brought to the forefront huge …. groups in our society, especially our black brothers and sisters, … overwhelmed with pain about what happened in Minnesota. We’re here in solidarity.”
“It’s also to highlight that we have some systemic racial issues in our own country,” added Rev. Eric Morin.
The vigil attracted about a half a dozen people, but Lewis said that unfortunately she had only sent out an email to invite people that morning.
In a written statement, Lewis further expanded on her explanation.
“Some people have said to me ‘all lives matter’,” she wrote. “My answer to that is yes they do. However right now is a time for honouring the pain of our black brothers and sisters. In two week’s time we will be honouring the pain of our First Nations brothers and sisters.”
“Today is also a time to confront our own racism – much of it subtle, some of it not,” she continued. “We are all complicit because we have been conditioned into it from our birth. We live and breathe white superiority because our political and economic systems are set up that way. We can only stop it when we openly accept that we are all racist. It will only stop when we care enough to hear the pain and acknowledge our place in it, and work for change within ourselves and within society.”
