The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Freedom Church, joins millions across this nation in condemning the horrendous murder of Charlie Kirk. Violence is never the answer. It destroys families, communities, and souls. We extend heartfelt sympathy to his wife and their two children as they endure this time of deep grief. May God’s peace surround them.
We also recognize that Mr. Kirk identified as a Christian. We do not question his profession of faith, for judgment belongs to God alone. What we can say is that Christian witness is always measured against the standard of love. As the Apostle Paul declared, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass.”
Our concern is not whether a family grieves — for of course they do. Our concern is how this nation chooses to respond. Once again, we are confronted with the ugly reality of unequal honor. Congress has found room to immortalize one public figure, while the names of others — Ahmaud Arbery, Philando Castile, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, Rayshard Brooks, Oscar Grant, Tyre Nichols — remain absent from the nation’s official calendar. Their blood still cries out from the ground: “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”
Racism is not always hooded and marching. Sometimes it is polite, procedural, and dressed in the language of respectability. At its core, racism is the sin of believing that one group is superior to another, and then shaping systems, laws, and memories to reinforce that lie. It shows up in slavery and segregation, yes, but also in redlining, mass incarceration, racial profiling, and in disparities in health care and housing. It shows up when unarmed Black men and women are killed without accountability. And it shows up when Congress elevates a figure whose rhetoric demeaned Black women and immigrants, while refusing to honor those who died because of systemic racism.
As bishops of The A.M.E. Zion Church, we take our stand: we reject racism in all its forms. It is incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Racism is not merely a social problem; it is a spiritual disease. It mocks the truth that all people are created in God’s image. It violates the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. And it grieves the heart of God, who shows no favoritism.
We also reaffirm our church’s historic commitment to peace and non-violence. From Bishop James Varick and the other founders of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church — who carved out a place of worship and witness free from the indignities of racism and slavery — to generations of Zion leaders who nurtured voices for justice such as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman, our church has testified that violence cannot cure violence. As followers of the Prince of Peace, we are called to overcome evil with good. That calling demands that we resist both the violence of weapons and the violence of racism, with the spiritual weapons of prayer, truth, and steadfast love.
We say to America: you cannot heal by hiding. You cannot unify by lifting up some while ignoring others. You cannot honor justice while practicing partiality. “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.” To glorify some lives while disregarding others is favoritism dressed as patriotism. It is sin.
We also say to our pastors and churches: this is your charge. Preach against racism. Teach your congregations what it looks like, not only in the past but in the present. Name it in your pulpits, confront it in your communities, resist it in your personal lives. Do not let your people believe that racism is someone else’s problem or only the work of extremists. Racism is a daily temptation to which this nation too often surrenders. As shepherds of God’s flock, you must be clear: racism is sin, and silence in the face of it is complicity.
To Erika Kirk and her children, we say: your grief is real, and our prayers are with you. To the families of Arbery, Castile, Jean, Jefferson, Brooks, Grant, Nichols, and so many others, we say: your grief is real too, and we will not stop calling your loved ones’ names before God and before this nation.
The A.M.E. Zion Church is committed to peace, but peace without justice is counterfeit. As long as racism distorts memory, we will raise our voices. We will comfort the afflicted, confront the comfortable, and echo the words of Amos: “Let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”
Until that day comes, let every pastor, every congregation, every disciple of Christ in Zion be faithful to the charge: proclaim the truth, protect the vulnerable, and pursue justice with courage. For only then can we hope to see a nation where memory is not fractured, but sanctified by love, truth, and equality under God.
Sincerely,
The Board of Bishops of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Bishop Brian R. Thompson, Sr., President
Bishop Darryl B. Starnes, Senior Bishop
Bishop W. Darin Moore
Bishop George D. Crenshaw
Bishop Hilliard Dogbe
Bishop U.U. Effiong
Bishop Eric L. Leake
Bishop Daran H. Mitchell
Bishop Anthony N. Witherspoon
Bishop Melanie Miller
Bishop Dwayne A. Walker
Bishop Bernando J. Ngunza
Bishop Seth O. Lartey, Located
Bishop Joseph Johnson, Retired
Bishop Marshall H. Strickland, Retired
Bishop Nathaniel Jarrett, Jr., Retired
Bishop George W. C. Walker, Sr., Retired
Bishop S. Chuka Ekeman, Retired
Bishop Warren M. Brown, Retired
Bishop Kenneth Monroe, Retired
Bishop Dennis V. Proctor, Retired
Bishop Michael A. Frencher, Sr., Retired
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