casket crusade

 

Some people driving along East 55th in Cleveland saw these caskets, including a child's one in front of East Technical High School.

Over the last year, local television has covered extensively the opiod addiction problem in Ohio. They have 'whitewashed' it. A lot of manufactured belief has been that street drugs were a problem of the urban ghettos of non-white people. Such people were considered criminals, now it is being presented that people of the current drug problems are victims. Rob Portman used this to gain votes to retain his Senate seat.

Here in northeast Ohio is an honest presentation by the Word Church. The community is being attacked, and not just drugs, but violence of all kinds. People are dying, families are grieving, and suffering. Some people believe that showing concrete symbols might shake people into action. People must realise the damage done. We are mostly, at least nominally, a Christian community; with Jesus as a focus, and a carrier of burdens, we may survive. Christian witness has an obligation to help.

 "The Word Church present The Casket Crusades, where the goal is to shed light on the alarming number of people dying in our communities due to drug abuse and violence. We’ll march through some of the hardest hit areas with men carrying caskets on their shoulders, to symbolize the burden we all share when a life is taken."

To-day, they will march from East Tech High on 55th to Public Square. The last two Saturdays they were in Akron, and East Cleveland. Around noon, three hours before the march, they set up a cook out and socialised.

Men need to be visible. Men have to make their voices and presence known.