Photo Essay: Adventist Congregations Participate in ‘Millions March’ Los Angeles
On Saturday, December 27, demonstrators took to the streets in Downtown Los Angeles, California, as part of the “Millions March for First Amendment Rights” event. Members of several Southern California Adventist congregations joined the marchers. Courtney Ray, a pastor at the Breath of Life Adventist Church in Los Angeles, shared the following photo essay.
Thousands of protesters at the Millions March LA protesting police brutality. Pastors and congregants from several Southern California Adventist churches such as Breath of Life (Inglewood), Kansas Avenue (Riverside), and Mount Rubidoux (Riverside) joined.
Anthony Paschal, Jr. a teacher at Glendale Adventist Academy, at the march.
The LA Millions March was orgainized by several college students, graduate students, and community leaders in solidarity with other Million March protests around the country and to demonstrate peacefully against injustice. Once Adventist leaders heard about the march, they were anxious to participate and encouraged their members to do the same. Isaiah 58 admonishes God’s people to be at the forefront of social justice and condemns standing in silence, witnessing the oppression of others.
The march followed a four-mile route through Downtown Los Angeles starting at the Pan Pacific Park to South Fairfax Avenue at Beverly Boulevard.
Pastor Michael Jenkins, Jr. from the Breath of Life Church, wearing a “please don’t shoot” t-shirt at the march.
One protestor created a plaster mannequin with its hands up. It’s decorated with the words “don’t shoot,” and with pictures of hundreds of unarmed victims, murdered by police.
People from various cultural backgrounds came together in solidarity to march.
The ultimate message of many people at the march.
The pause at this billboard was a poignant moment for many people at the march. Just how far has our nation come since marching at Selma?
The march paused for 4.5 seconds in commemoration of the 4.5 hours Mike Brown laid on the cement after being killed in Ferguson Missouri.
Members from the Breath of Life Church at the march.
Courtney Ray is a pastor in the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, currently serving at the Breath of Life Church in Los Angeles.
