A Call to Minneapolis
Faith Leaders Answering History in a Time of Peril and Possibility
We thank everyone who is praying for Pastor Deb and all those who answer the call to Minnesota's Day of Action. (Click on prayer request here.)
Let's take a moment to put into perspective the criticality of what's happening in Minneapolis.*
Minneapolis finds itself at the center of a crisis that has been long in the making.
- This is a crisis of our Constitution, federal overreach, militarized enforcement, and the erosion of civil liberties.
- A crisis of our democracy.
- A crisis of our morals.
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A crisis of faith communities failing to live into a vision of Beloved Community—or, across traditions, our shared commitments to justice, dignity, compassion, right relationship, and collective care.
- This is not a crisis confined to one city. It is a crisis all over the land, born of original sins: stolen land, slavery, genocide, and the ongoing violence required to sustain them.
And [coming] just [as] we mark[ed] MLK Day on January 19, 2026, we find ourselves standing in an echo of history—offered lessons we need not repeat and legacies of love we are called to build upon.
In the tendrils of inherited harm and collective memory, we hear calls from our past—calling us toward both peril and possibility.
Then... and now...
ECHOES OF SELMA— A CALL ANSWERED, A CALL RENEWED
On Monday, March 8, 1965, as state violence was unleashed against Black citizens in Selma, Martin Luther King Jr. penned a telegram to clergy across the nation:
In the vicious maltreatment of defenseless citizens of Selma, where old women and young children were gassed and clubbed at random, we have witnessed an eruption of the disease of racism which seeks to destroy all of America. No American is without responsibility. All are involved in the sorrow that rises from Selma to contaminate every crevice of our national life. The people of Selma will struggle on for the soul of the nation, but it is fitting that all America help to bear the burden. I call therefore, on clergy of all faiths representative of every part of the country, to join me for a ministers’ march to Montgomery on Tuesday morning, March 9th. In this way all America will testify to the fact that the struggle in Selma is for the survival of democracy everywhere in our land.
That call was answered.
Clergy came from across the country. Among them was Rev. James Reeb, who was brutally beaten and later died from his injuries. Alongside the lives of Jimmie Lee Jackson and Viola Liuzzo, his sacrifice stands as a permanent reminder of the cost of answering history when conscience demands it.
THE CALL TO MINNEAPOLIS — 2026
In the targeted violence against immigrant communities from Latine and Somali neighborhoods—where families are being torn apart by masked agents, where communities are organizing, resisting, and protecting one another, and where Renee Good’s life has been taken with reckless disregard for the preciousness of human life—we are witnessing an eruption of corruption, racism, and the worship of money over life itself, now threatening the soul of this nation.
No American is without responsibility for the 600+ and growing number of people kidnapped and missing from our communities, nor for Renee’s murder. All are involved in the sorrow that rises from Minneapolis and contaminates every crevice of our national life.
The people of Minneapolis will continue to struggle for an end to suffering and violence, and to redeem the soul of this nation. But this moment also demands that others come—to witness what is being tested here, to learn from how communities are responding, and to help bear the burden together. What is unfolding in Minneapolis will not stay here.
We therefore call on clergy and faith leaders of all faiths, representative of every part of the country, to join us for a day of witness and resistance—a working convening rooted in accountability to impacted communities and designed to build the relationships, skills, and commitments needed for sustained action across the country.
In this way, all who come will bear witness to the fact that the struggle in Minneapolis is for a new America, a new Beloved Community, and a new democracy everywhere in the world.
*Excerpts reprinted from MARCH. MARCH (Multifaith Antiracism, Change & Healing) is an explicitly pro-queer group of multiracial, multifaith clergy and faith leaders who cross traditions to organize for freedom and liberation on Dakota land in the Twin Cities.
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