Lamentation: Prayer inspired by Ahmaud Aubrey, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd

Spirit of Love, abide with me. There are no words to express the dread and rage that I am filled with today. Another Black man has been killed by the police. There is no understanding of these senseless acts of violence. We, your children, find no safety in a system that is meant to commodify our very souls and silence our voices with a death blow. We find no love in a system built upon the hate of us.  

Spirit of Justice, I beseech you to enter this country and, with a wailing torrent, whip the doors off of the dens of iniquity. Let your light pierce the darkness of hatred. Let the law of justice smother the breath of racism that breathes its foul and cancerous breath into this country. Let the fingers of faithfulness claw its way into the heart of prejudice and shred it until it is no more. Let the demon that inhabits the spirit of all who hate, be exposed, contained, and destroyed so that it may never possess another human.  

Spirit of Understanding, reach into every mind that finds confusion and excuses to support these police executions and give them the knowledge and courage to see the vile nature of these crimes. Open their eyes and let them see beyond their own understanding. Open their hearts to feel the sorrow that pours out of a nation of people who know their worth and must suffer their captivity in this wicked place.  

Ancestors, we call upon you to hold us up once again. Whisper our truth into our ears. Adjust our hands to align the puzzle of our collective knowledge. Set us on the road of recovery, the road of resilience, the road of rising. We are here, and we are listening. Bathe us in the pools of health and healing. Cover us and protect us.  

Amen, Ashe, blessed be.