As J. Rashad Jones spoke on the steps of the Indiana Statehouse on May 31, he described the sorrow he felt when he saw the death on TV of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis with a white police officer’s knee against his neck nearly a week earlier. The death sparked six days of protest in cities across the U.S., including in Indianapolis.
Jones is the senior pastor at Sanders Temple Church of God in Christ.
He also talked of his son Cameron. “I have an 18-year-old son getting ready to go off to college at Arizona State,” he said. “I’m hesitant about sending them there because I don’t know if he’s going to be pulled over by a police officer and that police officer is going to be quick to grab his weapon. I don’t know if he’s going to be judged by who he was as a person or is he going to be judged a thug and a villain simply because he’s got skittles and a hoodie.”
