Charlotte’s virtual vigil mourns death of 100,000 COVID-19 victims — and one George Floyd
When a group comprising several dozen interfaith clergy and faith leaders in Charlotte started making plans for a virtual vigil to mark the more than 100,000 lives lost in the U.S. to COVID-19, the pandemic was by far the event causing the largest number of Americans the greatest amount of distress.
Then George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis last Monday, and protests started spreading like wildfire to every corner of the country, including Charlotte.
So by Monday at noon, when that virtual vigil began, there was an elephant in the Zoom-hosted room along with the 300-plus people who had gathered to lament and mourn victims of the coronavirus.
In fact, in his welcome to attendees, James Howell, senior pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church, tried to head off any expectation that the focus might shift even a little, saying: “It’s a time of great pain in our country associated now with the death of George Floyd. We’ll be speaking (about) that over time. ... We’re working for liberty and justice for all, for change in our society — and these things aren’t unconnected. But for this day, we pause to offer lament, grief and hopefully some words of hope related to COVID-19.”
And then the very next speaker — John Ederer, Imam and religious director at the Muslim Community Center of Charlotte — issued a prayer in the name of Floyd. (The 46-year-old black man died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was captured on video pinning Floyd to the ground by keeping his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.)
“We humbly request you now to rid us of this COVID-19 epidemic,” Ederer said, before adding: “We ask you to give justice to the countless George Floyds of America. We implore you to bring down systemic corruption and oppression rooted in racism and classism.”
Monday’s vigil, which was streamed to Mecklenburg Ministries’ Facebook page, was part of an effort led by faith leaders across the country to establish a National Day of Mourning and Lament to acknowledge the loss of life due to the coronavirus.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday morning ordered all North Carolina flags at state facilities to be lowered to half-staff through sunset in observance. “This is an opportunity,” he said in a statement, “to remind ourselves that our death count is not just a number, it represents people, communities and families in mourning.”
As of Monday, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has reported more than 900 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles’s proclamation recognizing the Day of Mourning and Lament in Charlotte on Monday was read during the vigil by Claude Alexander, pastor of The Park Church.
“‘(I) urge faith and community leaders, and all our residents, to join us ... to pause, reflect, pray, mourn and honor all those we have lost, and to comfort all those they have left behind.’”
After he finished reading her decree, Alexander posed a question about what can be done to move the world in a positive direction following such a monumental loss. “What now? How do we live our more days to honor their less days?”
Part of his answer pushed the conversation back toward George Floyd.
“I am called — and I believe we are all called — to act responsibly for ourselves and for each other,” Alexander said. “We are responsible not just for ourselves but also for each other. I am called to wear a mask in public, not just for myself but also for the benefit of others. If we believe that the three police officers who watched George Floyd’s death are complicit for saying and doing nothing, then we equally are complicit whenever we see, hear or know of anything unjust and do nothing, or say nothing.”
Still, there was plenty of reflection and energy focused on COVID-19 victims during the vigil.
Though not included in the program, bells tolled at houses of worship throughout the Charlotte area at noon (“to symbolize a unified solidarity of lament and mourning,” the group said, “for the many families who have experienced deaths of their cherished and beloved family members”), as Park Road Church director of music Mark Fry played Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” on the organ.
Along with Alexander and Ederer of the Muslim Community Center, short sermons were delivered by Iglesia Puerto Nuevo’s senior pastor Frank Garcia, who talked about dealing with suffering, and Temple Beth El’s Rabbi Asher Knight, who spoke of not giving in to fear.
At the midway point, a video was played that flashed names and photographs of Charlotteans who have died of the virus over the past several weeks. Then Ophelia Garmon-Brown, a family doctor and chief health and wellness officer for Novant Health, followed that with an elegant tribute to essential workers, acknowledging how broad the definition of the term is and then proceeding to describe the honorableness of jobs across the gamut — from bus drivers to certified nursing assistants.
And spoken-word poet Hannah Hasan gave an impassioned reading of a work she said was about mourning but really was more about resilience.
“Through this period of mourning, we will embrace the uncomfortable because with the uncomfortable exists the space to grow,” she said. “The act of coming undone. Unraveling for the sake of feeling the things that need to be felt is the way that we give honor to the human experience and grow into the strongest versions of ourselves. It’s how we pick ourselves up from the most treacherous of times. It’s how we reset and remind ourselves that we are resilient and possess within the strength to overcome. It’s letting our heart break and rebuild, break and rebuild, break and rebuild, break and rebuild.”
Before the vigil, attendees were encouraged to be ready to hold up a lit candle during the event, or a piece of paper with a one-word prayer printed on it.
When the time came, people held up cards that displayed words like “empathy,” “hope” and “mercy,” words that can be easily connected to feelings related to the fact that more than 100,000 Americans have died during the pandemic.
But another word kept showing up on cards, as well as in the Zoom chat thread, over and over:
“Justice.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 3:59 PM.
