Why This White Pastor Is Not Saying ‘All Lives Matter’
Leading up to a sermon in late September, Carl Lentz, pastor at Hillsong Church in New York City, wrote on Facebook that “at THIS church, we are not saying ‘all lives matter’ right now because this is a logical assumption that most reasonable people agree with. All lives are not at risk right now. We ARE saying BLACK LIVES MATTER. Because, right now, black lives apparently are worth LESS on our streets. It’s ‘our fight’ not ‘their fight.’ ”
The 37-year-old’s comment came just days after two police shootings left two black men dead. Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Tulsa on Sept. 16; four days later, another black man, Keith Lamont Scott, was killed at the hands of police in Charlotte. The shootings ignited peaceful protests interrupted by chaos in cities 1,000 miles apart.
At least 732 people — 178 of whom were black men and women — have been fatally shot by police in the United States this year, according to a Washington Post database.
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