Apr 15, 2015 2 min read

Sunday is the most racially segregated day of the week for many Washington churchgoers, according to city resident Dean Ellis.

Black parishioners go to predominantly black churches, and white parishioners go to predominantly white churches, he said.

But this Sunday, area churches hope to bridge the divide by hosting an “All Lives Matter March” aimed at racial reconciliation. The march will kick off at 2 p.m. at Friendship Baptist Church on East Walnut Street and continue to the Washington County Courthouse, where politicians and youth groups will be speaking.

“We’re asking that the churches, in a multiethnic effort, would come together on the most segregated day of the week and demonstrate what the process of healing looks like by walking with us,” said Ellis, who is helping to organize the event through his involvement at Mt. Olive Baptist Church.

Pathway to Christ Ministries and the Washington-based Stop the Violence group also are combining efforts.

Ellis said the march is a response to recent police killings and black youth homicides that have been dividing communities across the nation. Unlike other protests, though, Washington marchers won’t be chanting “Black lives matter” or “Police lives matter.”

“A black life matters and a police life matters, but we the church cannot come down on either side of the color line,” said Ellis, who noted that participants in recent police rallies were predominantly white.

Participants will not be permitted to bring their own signs in order to stay true to the event’s message, but “all lives matter” signs will be distributed.

Howard Paige, a city resident and member of Friendship Baptist Church, said it’s time for churches to start speaking out against racially motivated violence and discrimination.

“I think that would be a starting point – maybe (include) segments in Sunday school, try to influence these young kids in their youth and enlighten them,” Paige said. “I think after this march that churches will say something from their pulpits.”

Ellis said the march will be an accomplishment in itself if it gets diverse members of the community to come together.

“I don’t attend marches that don’t have an agenda that works after the march,” he said. “But this march is different because this march is the agenda. This march is blacks and whites as a multiethnic effort marching together.”