COGIC Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. Declares December 14th “Black Lives Matter Sunday” Memphis, TN (December 5, 2014) The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is hosting “Black Lives Matter Sunday,” to remind the nation how important the lives of African Americans are. Sunday, December 14, 2014, the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) sponsored a day of prayer throughout its 12,000 congregations around the world, in honor of the two recent cases of African American men, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, killed by police. Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. says, “I watched, as did most of America, first the video of the incident, then the report of the Grand Jury in the Eric Garner case. I am saddened by the decision of the Staten Island Grand Jury to not indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo. With no indictment in two national cases in less than a two week period, and to hear and see Eric Garner, a father and grandfather, placed in a banned choke hold and repeatedly say ‘I can’t breathe,’ takes us back years in the struggle for equal justice.” Bishop Blake added, “We must find a way, through God’s help, to continue the work of emphatically telling everyone that will listen that, “Black Lives Matter!” COGIC is asking its pastors and members to wear black on the second Sunday in December to show solidarity. A special prayer will be given for all of the men present in the service on that day. About the Church of God in Christ: The Church of God in Christ is the fifth largest Protestant religious denomination and the largest African American church in the United States, with churches in 63 countries worldwide and an estimated membership of nearly 6.5 million members.

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