Peace Walk in Charleston Calls on Residents to ‘Love Your Neighbor’ Amid National Divide | New

Obeying traffic lights and chatting about the good weather, several dozen worshipers marched on October 9 through the cobbled streets of historic downtown Charleston carrying a simple message: “Love your neighbor.”

At a time of divisive division for the nation, Reverend Kylon Middleton said this is a message we all need to hear. Arguments over vaccinations, mask warrants and racial equality divide the community.

“It has become so political that it divides the church,” said Middleton, also a Charleston County Council member. “You cannot preach the liberating doctrine without fear of offending someone.”

The Peace March was hosted by Middleton and Reverend Adam Shoemaker, co-founders of The Micah Project, a lunchtime Bible study for people to have a respectful dialogue on issues that divide.

Middleton is the senior pastor of Mount Zion AME Church, a historically black congregation. Shoemaker represents the predominantly white Episcopal Church of St. Stephen.

Project members seek to apply the biblical values ​​of justice, mercy and humility to social issues that divide Charleston, including health care, housing, education, and racial equality.

Tom Pace, a member of Grace Church Cathedral, said he joined the march because the confrontational nature of politics was not good for the community.

“I think it’s important for churches to come together behind these efforts to show some of the things that are wrong with the system, whether it’s health care, education or how people are treated in the community, ”Pace said.

About 75 people, including Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds and Charleston City Councilor Robert Mitchell marched from Mount Zion on Glebe Street to St. Stephen’s on Anson Street. From there, they continued to the Charleston County School District Central Office, Wragg Square, Fetter Health Care Network and Hampstead Square.

At each location, they offered prayers for unity in the community, as well as health workers and teachers. Speakers from several organizations and backgrounds, including Penny Cothran of the Sierra Club and Omar Muhammad of the Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities, also spoke about the challenges within the community.

Sara Rutledge, a local high school science teacher, spoke to Wragg Square about the challenges teachers and students face during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rutledge said she didn’t teach last year because she was living with an immunocompromised person, but the teachers who did were exhausted with the emotional pain and dysfunction caused by the pandemic.

Students who caught the delta variant of the virus this year have become sicker than students last year, resulting in more time out of school and greater loss of learning.

“For us, as teachers, are we trying to figure out how to bridge the learning gap? Rutledge said. “We’re even having a hard time having this conversation because we’re still in survival mode.”

Shoemaker later said he thought the Peace March was a wonderful first initiative for the Micah Project.

“I was happy with the turnout and thought the speakers really helped raise pressing issues for our community,” he said.

Join Steve Garrison at 843-607-1052. Follow him on Twitter @SteveGarrisonDT.