Before hip-hop artist Kareem Manuel flew to Legacy Conference 2016 in July, he was visiting family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where earlier that month, police had shot and killed 37-year-old Alton Sterling.
One evening in Baton Rouge, Manuel drove to Sterling’s memorial. There in the midst of nationwide racial tension, he tearfully prayed for the United States, the church and his own heart. He also prayed for the several police officers who stood watch.
Then Manuel began to walk toward them.
“Which is a terrifying situation,” Manuel said.
Just days prior, three officers had been fatally shot in the city.
“So I know they’re on high alert,” Manuel said. “I’m at this place where a man was killed by police, so they know that I’m on high alert. I see them notice me walking over. I’m nervous. I can tell I’m making them nervous.”
As Manuel walked closer, he raised his hands to communicate peace. He just wanted to tell them something.
“Thank you guys for being here and watching over me while I did that,” Manuel said. “I appreciate you and your service.”
He said the officers appreciated his gratitude, and this sparked a conversation.
“I just let them know where we were coming from,” Manuel said. “When I say ‘we,’ I just mean people who are against police brutality… I feel like the media has taken the angle that if I say the phrase, ‘Black lives matter,’ that I’m saying I hate police or only black lives matter. I try to let them know that’s not the case. It just feels like our lives don’t matter to this society. We’re trying to say we should matter. If all lives matter, then everybody should be here mourning the death of this person.
“I shared that, but I also let them know that I care about them. I’m praying for them. I know that their job is really difficult. I know they have to make split-second decisions. I want them to go home safe to their families… We would just appreciate it if a cop messed up that the other cops would say, ‘Yeah, that was an overstep. That was too aggressive.’ They admitted that they wished they were able to say that. [Due to] the politics and how hard it is, they can’t say that right now. It’s not the union stance.”
Manuel asked if he could pray, and they all huddled together.
“When I look up, they’re crying. I’m crying. They’re saying sorry. I’m saying sorry. We’re hugging each other multiple times,” Manuel said, “crying in public in front of people.”
Others at memorial noticed and started to congregate with them.
“It’s a big circle of black citizens in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and white officers in Baton Rouge, and we’re standing in a circle just talking and sharing,” Manuel said, “no cameras around, no agendas, just human beings talking to other human beings saying, ‘This is what I’m afraid of. This is what I’m hurt by.’ It was one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve ever been apart of…
“On the site where this man was killed, and it’s on video, to see how God could use that, even just in that moment, to bring people together, to express God’s love, hopefully his mercy and grace and, my prayer is, repentance. I was very honored to be apart of that.”
In Chicago at Legacy, Manuel told this story in an interview with Rapzilla, as well as what he learned from it.
