Clergy Stage a Die-in at Congressional Cafeteria for Black Lives Matter

By Aura Bogado Jan 21, 2015

Christian, Muslim and Jewish clergy and people of faith staged a die-in at the congressional cafeteria in Washington, D.C. to protest the killings of unarmed black people. Over at WaPo, Wesley Lowery explains how the die-in kicked off:

The Longworth Building cafeteria, a heavily trafficked lunch spot on Capitol Hill, was bustling around 12:30 p.m. when two to three dozen clergy members let out a cry of "Black Lives Matter" and lay down on the floor in front of the cash registers.

In a statement issued by Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice and Auburn Seminary, which organized the action, Jewish, Christian and Muslims came together to call attention to Black Lives Matter’s demands.

Middle Collegiate Church’s Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, who participated in the die-in, made clear that black women matter, too: "As we mourn the deaths of unarmed Black men killed at the hands of law enforcement, let us speak the names of Aura Rosser, killed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, when police responded to a domestic quarrel in her home, and Sharon Mosley killed in front of her 3-year-old child at a Walmart in Georgia while being apprehended by police for alleged shoplifting."

Participants laid down for four-and-a-half minutes to represent the four-and-a-half hours Michael Brown’s body was left on the ground after he was killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in August.

This isn’t Bend the Arc’s first action around Black Lives Matter–the group worked with others* to organize rallies in 15 cities on the first night of Chanukah in December. 

*This post has been updated to reflect that Bend the Arc worked with other groups to organize the Chanukah protests.