Cary faith leaders effort to tackle race relations with Unity Walk
CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The heat Saturday morning couldn't keep people of faith away from a unity march in Cary. It was a multiracial, multi-ethnic, multicultural response to the violent death of George Floyd.
Floyd being the man killed in Minneapolis when a now-former police officer restrained him with a knee on his neck while he was handcuffed, face down in the street. That death, the delayed arrest of four officers now charged in connection with his death, and the reaction of an anguished community across the nation inspired march organizers to take action.
Faith Wokoma and her husband co-pastor the Legacy Center Church. She said, "As we look through civil rights history, the church was always such a big part of change. And we don't want it to just be the black church or white church, or Asian church. We want the body of Christ to come together, collectively."
"Not just to protest," said Soboma Wokoma. "But also to talk with one another. To know exactly what the problems are, exactly what the issues are. So that collectively we can come up with solutions that can help heal our nation, heal our land and our community."
They started talking about ways to seek answers and heard from more church leaders.
"So they came to us and said, what do you think about doing a prayer walk? It's something that we had been discussing as well." Faith Wakoma said. "So we decided to gather with the other churches, and we were pleasantly surprised when the police said they wanted to be part of the walk. The mayor wanted to be part of the walk."
"It shows that we all want the same thing. We want justice, we want peace. But we also want love in our community," said Soboma Wokoma.
His wife says this mission's just beginning and after the unity walk, "As a church, as a community, there have to be some hard talks. We have to get to the table and understand each other. So that's the first step."
