dinner is served

The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed.