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Virtual Vigil for Racial Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation

Full recording of Center for Reconciliation, Virtual Vigil for Racial Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation, June 18, 2020.

On June 18, 2020 at 5:00 pm, the Center for Reconciliation hosted a Virtual Vigil for Racial Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation via Zoom. The vigil brought over 100 people together in community to honor Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and all those killed by anti-Black racism. The program, which can be viewed in its entirety in the recording above, included remarks from community leaders, music, prayer, and 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silent candlelit remembrance. 

Speakers:

  • The Rt. Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island and Chair and President of Board of Directors, Center for Reconciliation (host)
  • Rabbi Sarah Mack, Temple Beth-El, Providence, RI and member, Board of Directors, Center for Reconciliation
  • Jim Vincent, President, NAACP Providence Branch
  • The Rt. Rev. Jeffery A. Williams, Bishop of The Kings Cathedral, Providence, RI  and member, Board of Directors, Center for Reconciliation
  • Julia Renaud, Exhibition Manager & Curator, Center for Reconciliation

Those remembered during the program:

Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Steve, Ana, and Terrell, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Michael, Tamir Rice, Medgar Evers, Thelma, Fred Hampton, Philando Castile, George Floyd, Atatiana Jefferson, Emmett Till and Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley, Michael 1972, Stephon Clark, Trayvon Martin, Charlie Parker, the Bird and all jazz musicians, Lady Dimanique, Ramarley Graham, all victims of lynching, Dominique Fells, Nina Pop, Malcolm X, Alton Sterling, the Freedom Riders, Billie Holliday, Amadou Diallo, the Black Union soldiers who died in the Civil War to save the nation and end slavery, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, those lost on the Middle Passage, Riah Milton, the children killed at 16th St. Baptist Church, Birmingham, Robert Fulton, Frederick Douglass, Lajuan McDonald, all who perished in slave ships, Elijah McClain, Frederick Douglass’s mother and all enslaved mothers who had their children ripped from them, Malcolm Harsch, victims of the Tuskegee experiments, all in the unmarked graves of racism, David McAtee, Sandra Bland, those killed in the Tulsa Race Massacre, Botham Jean, Jonathan Daniels, all those lost to COVID-19, all Black mothers everywhere for their courage and vitality and LOVE, Cornell Young, Jr, all who are tired on the journey, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Depayne Middleton Doctor, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Myra Thompson, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner Kalief Browder, all those now in prison or detainment, Georgianna, Trans women especially African Americans, Angela Davis, Meghan Hockaday, James Byrd Jr., Shirley Chisholm, Walter Scott, all those who died alone and afraid, Barbara Jordan, all the unnamed and unknown enslaved people who died on plantations.