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Hundreds march to White House for 'Prayer Walk for Peace and Justice' amid protests

Alfred Street Baptist Church hosted a prayer walk for justice in lieu of Sunday service.

WASHINGTON — This morning, hundreds of people from churches all across the metro marched during the Prayer Walk for Peace and Justice Sunday morning. Alfred Street Baptist Church hosted the event.  It was a different way for churches to gather on a Sunday morning.

“I know our fight is not physical, our fight is spiritual," said Sonya J. Harris as she whispered prayers as she marched with hundreds of people.  

It was her call to God to change the hearts and minds of those who harbor racist feelings. The same prayers echoed throughout the crowd.

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and wickedness in high places,” Harris said.

It was the devotion Billy Joe Carrington was looking for Sunday morning. He said he often feels suffocated in his skin.  

“It’s just difficult to be black,” Carrington added.

The redundancy of the protest and marches won’t keep him away. 

“I can’t breathe, and I would like to represent for my ancestors, my family.  I’m from a rural area in Texas and I believe this can happen to anybody once they walk outside on a given day,” he said.

A possibility he prays is never his fate. It’s why he said he marched with an open heart and mind.  

“Stop being closed-minded,” he said.

Hundreds marched with signs chanting the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. Harris hopes this Sunday, people would look within for the change they wish to see.  

“Check your heart. It's a heart matter. When your heart is not right, you can find things wrong with everybody. But when you look inside yourself, you can understand that guess what, maybe, you’re choosing not to understand,” Harris said.

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