The stories of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin have really helped to show the true colors of our society.  Not just because they happened, but because of the fallout of conversations in the aftermath.  This comic was the first one I was sad to write, though I still tried to make it funny (hopefully!).  Let’s pray for peace in every level and realize that the church is going to have to make some serious pro-active change to address race in America.  One suggestion I loved was having response teams that would show up to these scenes like they do at a disaster, and pray with the victims’ families and work to be peacemakers in the community.

Richard Allen was one of the founders of the AME church, the first Black church in America.  He is considered a Black Founding Father in America, having also started the Free African Society (FAS), calling for boycotts on any products made by slaves.  One Sunday, he was entering the sanctuary for worship at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, when the pastor began to pray.  Richard and his friends knelt to pray where they were, which happened to still be on the white’s only section of the building.  The ushers removed them from worship.  Affronted by the control that continued to be enforced on the Black members of the congregation, Richard and Absalom Jones began the African Methodist Episcopal Church.