{"id":9069,"date":"2020-06-25T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T15:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/?p=9069"},"modified":"2025-09-08T15:22:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:22:52","slug":"salvationists-serve-at-atlanta-march-against-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/2020\/06\/25\/salvationists-serve-at-atlanta-march-against-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Salvationists Serve at Atlanta March Against Racism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>\u201cThe Salvation Army believes that God\u2019s love is all-encompassing and it urges us to reject racism and discrimination. The Bible commands us to \u2018be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.\u2019 We are committed to fighting racism wherever it exists and will speak up wherever we encounter it. As we pray for God\u2019s will to be done on earth as in heaven, The Salvation Army will work toward a world where all people are loved.\u201d \u2013 The Salvation Army Statement on the Death of George Floyd and the Ongoing Protests Across the United States, June 2, 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the liberation of African-American slaves at the end of the Civil War, coincided this year with rallies around the country against hate and racism. And amid the signs and banners as thousands marched through downtown Atlanta, Georgia, the crimson-and-blue flags of one group stood out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople were asking us, what does \u2018Blood and Fire\u2019 mean?\u201d said Captain Ken Argot, corps officer of The Salvation Army Atlanta Temple Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe flags were a wonderful witness,\u201d Captain Argot said. \u201cThey\u2019re a reminder that we\u2019re a marching Army, going into battle, to places where darkness is. They gave us the ability to say, The Salvation Army is not just about providing social services; the theology behind it is we are freed by the blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit infills us with his passion and fire to do his will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About three dozen Salvationists served at the \u201cMarch on Atlanta\u201d organized by the OneRace Movement on Junetenth \u2013 Friday, June 19 \u2013 offering bottled water and prayer at a rally and worship service at Centennial Olympic Park. They then joined participants as they peacefully marched about a mile to the Georgia Capitol, where the state legislature was considering a hate-crime bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the turmoil of recent weeks touched off by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis police custody, \u201cwe knew we needed to respond,\u201d Captain Argot said. \u201cTo not respond would have been complicit with everything that\u2019s going on. And historically, The Salvation Army has always been on the front line against social injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Salvation Army worked with the Atlanta-based Coca Cola Bottling Company-UNITED to acquire more than 14,000 bottles of water at a discounted price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joelle Miller, special events coordinator for the Metro Atlanta Command, put together a logistics plan for the park that called for two canteens \u2013 from Red Shield Services and the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center \u2013 and four tents with tables and water bottle coolers and barrels, as well as personnel to staff them. Officers, soldiers and volunteers from local corps including Atlanta Temple, Atlanta International and Atlanta Peachcrest turned out for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For all, it was an inspiring if exhausting day. Captain Argot arrived at the park to help set up at 6:45 a.m. and did not leave until 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe wonderful thing about this was, it was a true bringing together of Christians from across Atlanta,\u201d Captain Argot said. \u201cIt was so positive to see The Salvation Army connecting to other people of faith, taking a stand wherever there\u2019s inequity. People were kneeling and praying, people were confessing to each other, people were listening to each other\u2019s stories \u2013 it was really fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conversations started on June 19 continue in corps social media pages, Captain Argot said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen we\u2019re all stuck in our corps running programs, I think maybe we\u2019re not aware of what\u2019s happening in our community where we need to take a stand publicly,\u201d he said. Juneteenth \u201cwas a great opportunity for us to reawaken The Salvation Army to a social movement to create change. It\u2019s reawakening our commitment to social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shared with permission of The Salvation Army Southern Spirit)<\/p>\n<div class=\"credits-overlay\" data-target=\".wp-image-9074\">The Salvation Army <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe Salvation Army believes that God\u2019s love is all-encompassing and it urges us to reject racism and discrimination. The Bible commands us to \u2018be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":9074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,28],"tags":[24,262],"class_list":["post-9069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry","category-response","tag-georgia","tag-march"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4a9e9f668fe748ae56f80b808c0cea0f.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9075,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9069\/revisions\/9075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}