In Oak Bluffs Monday morning, more than 150 people gathered for a prayer vigil at Inkwell Beach, where they decried the spate of police-related racial violence, and attacks on police officers, that roiled the country last week, and with clasped hands — black and white, young and old, seasonal and year-round residents and visitors — prayed for the peace and racial harmony that characterizes the Martha’s Vineyard community, and a town long known as a vacation haven for generations of African American families.
The Polar Bears, an informal, multicultural, social group that gathers every summer morning at the beach — some to swim, some to chat, some to exercise — and the Martha’s Vineyard chapter of the NAACP quickly organized the vigil via social media, email, telephone conversations, and word of mouth. By 8 am, a large crowd had gathered along a section of the sidewalk, and with placid Nantucket Sound for a backdrop, one speaker after another spoke, prayed, and sang in support of peace and understanding in a gathering that had the attributes of a rally, a community picnic, and an open church revival service.
Oak Bluffs resident and retired Boston municipal court Judge Edward Redd, Polar Bear leader, began by asking Polar Bear member Billy Hancock to recite a prayer she had written following the death of her husband, Herbert Hancock, longtime Chilmark selectman, that she and the swim group recite every morning. Judge Redd asked everyone to hold hands. As Ms. Hancock spoke, the crowd repeated her words.
She began: “Good morning God. We are ushering in a new day, untouched and freshly new. So here I come to ask you, God, if you’ll renew me too … so take my hand and hold it tight, because I can’t walk alone.”
Oak Bluffs Police Chief Erik Blake, NAACP president, described the conversations and pain that spurred the decision to hold a prayer vigil. “And look what happened,” he said gesturing to the crowd.
Chief Blake introduced E. Jacqueline Hunt, chairman of the NAACP’s religious affairs committee, who he described as his spiritual adviser, who also tells him what clothes he should be wearing and corrects his English, drawing a big laugh. “She is a spiritual warrior of God, and she will not let you forget it,” he said.
Ms. Hunt provided a rousing prayer and spiritual exhortation, telling her impromptu congregation, “This morning I come to let you know that I belong to the SWAT team of almighty God; spiritual war and tactics, and so I am going to pray over everyone of you and bind every contrary spirit that has brought itself in here uninvited …”
As she spoke members of the crowd exclaimed, “yes — that’s right — yes.”
Jim Thomas, spiritual choir director and founder of the U.S. Slave Song Project, was called upon to lead the group in song. “I think it would be good if we all sort of hummed along and sing a bit of ‘Balm in Gilead,’” he said, referring to an Old Testament spiritual. The crowd joined in, their voices rising above the sounds of the nearby waves breaking on the beach.
Members of the crowd were invited to speak. “We are not at peace. I am not at peace,” Gretchen Tucker Underwood told the crowd. “I am black and blue. I am black because I was born that way and I am blue because of the blood that has been spilled by blue and black over the past couple of weeks.”
Ms. Underwood said prayer was healing, but added, “I happen to be an action person.” She implored, “Take your prayerful thoughts to the ballot box and speak to those people who make those laws and speak to those people who work on those reforms. Do not take it for granted that your voice is not important.”
As the vigil wound to a conclusion, Judge Redd said, “This is what the Vineyard is all about. Multiethnic. Multigenerational. And this is why we love the Vineyard.”
The vigil ended with trombonist and artist Dick Griffin, who was visiting the Island for the first time, standing on the seawall, trombone blaring out his own composition, “Meditation for Peace,” as the sun broke through the clouds.
‘Can’t be quiet’
The catalyst for the prayer vigil was a week of violence that began with two police shootings of black men and ended with the ambush slaying of five Dallas police officers and wounding of six others.
Last Tuesday night, two white Baton Rouge police officers responding to a report of an armed man shot and killed Alton Sterling, 37, after wrestling him to the ground. Cell phone video of the incident spurred protests. Mr. Sterling was armed, according to published reports.
Last Wednesday night, a suburban Minnesota police officer shot and killed Philandro Castile, 32, through his car window during a traffic stop while his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter sat in the car. Mr. Castile told the officer that he had a licensed firearm. He was shot when he reached for his identification, according to published reports. The aftermath was streamed live by his girlfriend on Facebook.
Last Thursday night, during a peaceful protest by Black Lives Matter supporters, Micah X. Johnson, a black man who told police he wanted to kill white police officers, gunned down police who were there to keep order.
Chief Blake is president of the Vineyard NAACP chapter, and helped organize the morning gathering. “A lot of people were recently stunned into silence, but we can’t be quiet about the divisions that have been going on, and the tragedies,” he said Monday morning, prior to the start of the event. “We just want to have a prayer vigil and pray for better days ahead.”
Chief Blake has spent his entire policing career, beginning as a traffic officer, with the Oak Bluffs department he was tapped to lead in 2003. Asked to comment on the most recent police shootings, Chief Blake said, “I think it’s unfortunate that we’ve seen so many of these incidents — whether they were justified or not — that ended in the killing of an African American man. There are some, like the South Carolina incident [in which an unarmed driver fleeing on foot was shot in the back] that were just out-and-out murder, and it outrages people.”
Chief Blake said the pace of events and the emotional climate often does not allow for good communication between police and the community, or a breathing space during which there is time to investigate and determine the facts. “There is no more wait and see,” he said. “I’m sure this stuff [the recent shootings] was up on social medial before the leaderships of the police departments even knew it had happened. At one time you’re trying to sort out what actually happened and you’re trying to play the media game of asking people to take a step back — take a deep breath, let us do our job. And it’s hard when it’s a visceral reaction that people have.”
Chief Blake said that across the country, police training and fear, “whether justified or not,” are elements in determining how police interact with members of the community: “There’s a lack of de-escalation training; unfortunately, I believe there’s a lack of leadership from the top.”
Chief Blake said there are leaders of police departments and governments who prefer the status quo and do not work for change. “They’d rather stay with the status quo and hope it goes away,” he said.