FROM HOPE TO WHOLENESS - Tecno-Libro

in April 2015, the long-smoldering embers of racial tension in Baltimore City erupted into flames and riots at a level unseen in 50 years. The riots were sparked by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for possessing what the police alleged was an illegal switchblade. While being transported in a police van, Gray was injured, fell into a coma, and was taken to a trauma center where he later died. The riots served as a long-needed wake-up call for a community that had ignored for decades the systematic racism that thwarted and neglected the needs and aspirations of its African American brothers and sisters. Within days of the riots, the Presbytery of Baltimore began mobilizing to be used by God to help foster healing and real change in the city. While many of our teaching and ruling elders were involved in various organizations and activities to combat racism, poverty and class discrimination, the Presbytery had not acted i