Canon Easterlin, the Rev. Kelly Steele, and the Rev. Guillermo Arboleda

On Sunday, May 31, a group gathered in Savannah for a peaceful protest. At the request of Mayor Van Johnson, clergy from different churches and denominations showed up in support of a peaceful march through downtown Savannah. The Rev. Guillermo Arboleda writes, " We received encouraging messages from both the Mayor and the Chief of Police who agreed with the need for structural reform to address the problems of racist police brutality with impunity. About sixty of us, including many Episcopal clergy, walked from that meeting at First African Baptist Church, to Johnson Square, in front of Christ Church Episcopal. There we gathered with hundreds of other protesters of all ages and races and ethnicities who were united in our opposition to racist policing practices. I was encouraged by the diversity of the crowd and the sheer number of young people (in their teens and twenties) who showed up in support of this cause. The Mayor and series of other speakers addressed the crowd at City Hall encouraging participants to turn their anger into action to push for policy reform that would protect the civil rights of all citizens, especially people of color. At 3:00 PM, the crowd was dismissed. Many older people went home shortly thereafter, but the Rev. Kelly Steele and I stuck around for about two more hours of marching throughout the city. Emotion and tension were high throughout the day, but the protesters, police, and National Guard all remained peaceful. Marching continued until well after 4:30 when we went home, but the local news reported very few arrests and no violent crimes of any kind."

Clergy making their way through Savannah

When the protest information was first making the rounds, many people weren't sure about the event, given that there had been some events in the larger area carried out by people with ill intentions. The Rev. Michael Chaney was able to contact the organizer of the event and connect him to the mayor in order to make sure that the protest was well organized and peaceful. Chaney also assisted in coordinating a deescalation team, run by local activist Coco Papy. Says Chaney,  "Coco gave us a brief overview of how to deescalate potentially volatile situations if they should occur.  She also did some on-the-spot training for a group of 30 people we assembled for the main event.  Throughout the afternoon we communicated with one another to ensure safety for those participating and insinuated ourselves into a number of situations to extinguish tension."

In addition to participating in the protest, the Rev. Chaney, the Rev. Michael White, and the Rev. Hunt Priest  were  invited to speak to the crowd.

Protests have been occurring across the diocese, with members of the clergy and parishes attending. Bella Pozo, member of St. Thomas, Thomasville, said of marching in downtown Thomasville, " It was awesome especially because so many teenagers were apart of it and I think it's important to have teenagers speaking up for what's right."

Bella Pozo (far right) joined in with protestors in Thomasville.