[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12244]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer:
  Let us pray.
  Eternal spirit, You have made of one blood all the people of the 
Earth. You are the God of our weary years and silent tears.
  Lord, American history contains triumphant and tragic chapters. We 
read about freedom, justice, liberty, and equality, but also about 
slavery, injustice, violence, and racism. Thank You for the seasons in 
a nation's life that enable it to admit mistakes and seek to right 
wrongs.
  Forgive the negligence and passivity of our lawmakers that nurtured 
thousands of documented and undocumented American lynchings. Forgive 
the failure to act that permitted more than 99 percent of the 
perpetrators of these sins to escape punishment.
  In these challenging days, help our Senators to remember that all 
that is necessary for evil to thrive is for good people to do nothing. 
Transform our contrition into service that will today bring liberty to 
captives, sight to the blind, and comfort to the bruised.
  Bless the descendants of those who were lynched. Remind them that You 
can transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows and make the 
crooked places straight. Give them the wisdom to see that in 
everything, You are working for the good of those who love You.
  Lord, empower all of us to continue to strive for right, until 
justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. 
Amen.

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