When Blacks Kill Blacks, the Pastor Shows Up

The church does not show up for the spectacular moments only. It shows up in emergency rooms at two in the morning when everyone else has left.

Part 3 of the “Activist to Pastor” series

Nothing in my personal experience or my academic training prepared me for what happened the night a 17-year-old boy was killed by mistaken identity and his mother, a member of my congregation, needed her pastor.

She was a single mother. He was her only son. And I met her in the emergency room.

I had been in difficu…