Oh I Am Who I Am
Hear the cries of all Your children young and old everywhere during this scary pandemic
Who are threatened and ravaged by a virus we cannot fully discern or know how to stop with confidence
Who still daily face violence, poverty, racism, abuse and neglect
Are scared, profiled, arrested, and imprisoned by those in authority
Ignored by those with power as they languish in crumbling schools and neighborhoods all over our nation and world
Labeled often by some entrusted with their education as dumb, disruptive and failures
Marginalized by those who vote and are elected because they cannot vote or make campaign contributions
Resented by some of those forced to care for them in too often inhumane child welfare and juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems
Hear our cries for our children all-powerful God, by all the names we call You, especially during this dangerous pandemic
Protect their bodies and fight their battles during this dangerous threat we don’t yet know how to fully stop
And protect them too from the violence of drugs and guns and poverty
Open the Red Sea to their safety and future in this time of unprecedented threat
Send them Your manna in the pandemic wilderness
And lead us and our children throughout the world into a safe future.
Marian Wright Edelman is founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund whose mission is Leave No Child Behind.
