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Protests, Prayers Reach Ninth Night In Lexington

Karyn Czar

From chants to silence, calls for racial justice and police accountability continued in multiple spots Saturday night in Lexington.

Protesters and the prayerful congregated at Moondance Amphitheater and for a ninth night in a row in downtown Lexington, to echo calls for justice, to grieve alongside hurting families, and to share stories of encounters with law enforcement.

At Moondance, the crowd heard a plea for unity among the faithful and a prayer for "accountability, integrity, and reform" in the ranks of the nation's law enforcement officers.

As part of the event, participants laid on their stomachs with their hands behind their back in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — the length of time former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd's neck in the video that helped spark worldwide demonstrations.

"That was extremely powerful to me," organizer Lisa Moore later told WUKY. "I struggled with that on concrete and no one was pressing against my neck or my back. But I kept trying to fight through because I knew, you know, this is what George Floyd went through and he had a whole lot more pressures than I did."

Moore says she felt the need for a smaller, more "reverent" gathering to remind Lexingtonians to love their neighbors, as called for in scripture.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.
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