Rev. Dr. Larry Pickens

I have watched from afar, as we all have, Somali and other immigrant people brutalized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. We have seen innocent people driven from their homes in their underwear, shot, and, in the case of Renee Nicole Good, killed by an ICE agent.

A call went out this week from MARCH (Multifaith Antiracism, Change & Healing) for clergy to come to Minneapolis and protest what is taking place in the Twin Cities. I have given it a great deal of consideration and decided that I need to stand with Somali people and other immigrants to send a message that it is not the actions of bad people that are most damaging; it is the silence of the good people.

I am protesting in Minneapolis because our inaction only gives oxygen to a forming totalitarian regime.

I remember reading Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” He referred to the fact that many people told him that he did not belong in Birmingham; he was not a citizen of Birmingham. He should mind his own business. Dr. King said that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

This is why I am traveling to Minneapolis. Justice everywhere is under threat. The reality in the U.S. today is that as a person of color, I can be stopped, asked for documents, and apprehended for walking on the streets simply because of the color of my skin. This is not the country of my birth, and I will do all in my power to assure that racism-based ICE arrests never become an accepted reality.

The Rev. Jennifer Ikoma-Motzko, pastor of spiritual care and formation at Park Avenue UMC in Minneapolis, leads a prayer vigil outside the church on Jan. 9.

I am traveling to Minneapolis because injustice is there. I am traveling to Minneapolis because racism is there. I am traveling to Minnesota because homophobia and transphobia are there. I am traveling to Minnesota because when one part of the community is suffering, we are all challenged.

God’s people and the entire creation are inextricably bound. It is this connection that makes me aware that I can never be everything that I ought to be until you are everything that you ought to be, and you can never be everything that you ought to be until I am everything that I ought to be. We are connected.

I was thinking about my parents today. I am thankful that they took me with them to a protest action in Chicago when Dr. King came to town. My parents raised me to stand up against injustice and for those who are threatened and have no voice.

My ask from you is that you pray for me, the other clergy, and all the people taking part in Friday’s march. Let us pray that this nonviolent witness changes hearts, moves policy, and makes a difference.

Photo (right): UM News Service/Park Avenue United Methodist Church