Tampa Religious Leaders Pray To End Violence, Heal Community

TAMPA, FL — In a show of unity and peace, elected officials, religious leaders, police officers and activists knelt together Monday to pray for the country's healing following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The National Day of Prayer ceremony at Lykes Gaslight Square Park in downtown Tampa followed a weekend of marches and demonstrations that turned violent during the night with buildings set on fire and looted and protesters launching bottle rockets and rocks at police.

The violence led to more than 50 arrests and prompted Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to declare two nights of curfew.

Monday's ceremony organized by the Tampa Bay Coalition of Clergy, including Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders, called for a "powerful, unifying message of prayer for healing everywhere."

"We have to remember our history lest we repeat the mistakes of the past," said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who was raised in Tampa and became a police officer in 1984.

She recalled walking into the old Tampa Police station at 1710 N. Tampa St. and noticing there were only two water fountains on the first floor and they were 20 feet apart. When she asked why, she was told that, in the days of segregation, one fountain was for black people and the other for white.

Tampa's first black police officers described a time when black officers had to go to the lawn outside the police station for roll call and they were only allowed to patrol in black neighborhoods.

"We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go as a community," Castor said. "The incident that happened with George Floyd, that he was murdered, brought to the surface all of these issues that are simmering just below that surface."

The Rev. Larry Roundtree II, pastor of New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Tampa, talked about the murder that sparked the civil rights movement 65 years ago.

On Aug. 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched by a group of white men in Money, Mississippi.

"Sixty-five years ago, our nation was shaken awake from an uneasy and ignorant slumber," he said. "Sixty-five years ago, people all across the nation and the world were horrified to see the images of the bludgeoned face of Emmett Till ... Those images shook a nation awake to consciousness of hatred and racism that had no place in the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Roundtree said it ignited the civil rights movement leading to social reform including voting rights, integration and affirmative action. But, in the ensuing years, "we were lulled back to sleep."

He said it has taken the deaths of black people including 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford in 2012, 47-year-old James Craig Anderson in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2011, and now George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 to reawaken America.

"We're no longer asleep," Roundtree said. "The question is, now that we're awake, what are we going to do? "

The speakers agreed that violence, looting and setting fires isn't the answer.

“This violence is not called for,” said Bishop Matthew Williams of the Church of God In Christ. “It is not helping the case of the Floyd family, and it is destroying what God has given us.”

Roundtree agreed, noting that the gathering in Lykes Gaslight Square Park wasn't organized by governmental officials or activist groups. "It was called by people of faith who believe there's still power in prayer," he said.

"We don't hate police; we don't hate the white people; we don't hate gays and lesbians; we don't hate Muslims; we don't hate Jews; we hate hate," Roundtree said. "And the only thing that can destroy hate is love — not a passive love but an aggressive, evincing, relentless love."

The Rev. Thomas Scott, pastor of the 34th Street Church of God, said the presence of hundreds of young people during the weekend's demonstrations in Tampa points to an anger and frustration that's resulted from a failure of the system to bring the younger generations to the table.

“We’ve got to let the younger group that’s out protesting be a part of the solution,” Scott said.

While the civil rights movement has made great strides, he said the weekend's protests made it obvious that there are still many issues that need to be resolved.

“The injustice, the inequality, the educational issues, all those issues are systemic, and they’re part of the problem,” Scott said.

"They're problems a lot of people don't want to address because they're difficult — education, lack of health care, workforce development, affordable housing, inferior transportation, all of those issues that individually and cumulatively hold down segments of our community," Castor agreed.

Even before the death of George Floyd, Castor those issues were festering during the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted the city's poor and minority communities.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies show that minorities are more likely to contract the coronavirus due to the lack of access to grocery stores and medical facilities, living in more densely populated areas and living in apartment complexes and other congregate living facilities.

Additionally, a greater number of people in the black and brown communities have lost jobs due to the coronavirus, Castor said.

Before ending the gathering, religious leaders vowed to host a series of community conversations to talk about the issues that are creating rage and resentment in the community, and work on solutions "before the anger spills into the streets again."

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