BREAKING MY SILENCE

There are a half dozen other articles I had planned to write this week, but until I say this I can’t bring myself to write anything else.

America has a problem. We know that this country has several serious problems, actually, but this one is getting worse by the day and we can’t afford to remain silent about it any longer.

Black people in this country – especially black men – are routinely harassed, beaten, tased and shot to death, simply for being black.

We have to admit: Black lives do not matter in the same way that White lives do.

Please understand: Everything I say here is directed entirely at the Christian Church in America. This is not about politics. This is not about ideology. This is about what it means to follow Jesus and counting the cost.

I watched a video clip the other day from a black woman who called for White males to stand up and speak out on this issue of violence against black people. She said that it didn’t matter how many black people went and protested and marched and held signs calling for justice in front of the courthouse. They’ve done that. It doesn’t change anything.

I believe she is right.

But, if just 50 white men stood outside the courthouse in Baton Rouge and held signs demanding justice for Alton Sterling, it would create a bigger ripple than if 200 black people did the same thing.

I hate saying that, and I hate that we live in a country where this is the case, but it is, indeed, the case.

Black people in this country need advocates, and they need advocates that have power and influence and privileges that they do not – and will not – ever have. At least, not until we stand up next to them and demand that they receive equal treatment and respect.

Power in America rests in the hands of white males. We are the ultimate in privilege.

Don’t believe me? Then if you’re a white male I challenge you to seriously ask yourself if you would trade places with a black man. Would you be willing to grow up in a black neighborhood? Would you be willing to go to a black school where the quality of education is reduced? Would you be willing to grow up in poverty? Would you be willing to have people treat you differently – as “less than” a man? Would you trade all of your opportunities for advancement with someone who is looked at with suspicion? Would you trade your life with the life of Alton Sterling, or Tamir Rice, or Trayvon Martin, or Michael Brown?

This is the reality for black men in America today:

Carry a legal weapon in your pocket and you’ll get shot.

Carry a BB gun off the shelf at a Wal-Mart and you’ll get shot.

No weapon? You may still get shot.

Hands in the air? Prepare to be shot.

Running away? Shot.

Toy gun? Also shot.

Twelve years old? Shot dead and no charges against the officers.

In fact, no charges for any officers in any shooting cases where black people were shot dead without cause.

These are “unfortunate accidents,” they say. These are “isolated incidents.”

Never mind that they happen every other day.

Never mind that white people point loaded guns at cops and do not get shot.

Never mind that white people shoot people to death in a church, or a movie theater, and still get treated tenderly and respectfully without getting shot and earn their day in court.

There is an inequity here that needs to be addressed.

I believe the problem is two-fold:

First, we have to admit that we are living in a culture where racism is still alive and well. We have to admit this. We have to intentionally work to change this.

Second, we need to admit that there is a problem with the way our police departments use deadly force. We need to systematically re-train our police officers to change their tactics when it comes to drawing their weapons. The training should start with the largest metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, etc., and then move on to smaller districts and counties.

Christians in America especially need to elevate this issue of police violence against minorities. We need to make it as important an issue as abortion, or religious freedom.

We have to stop standing on the side of the oppressors and we have to quit making excuses for why the oppressed “deserved” what happened to them.

We need to advocate for the oppressed, and that includes minorities, and LGBTQ, and Muslims, and victims of rape, and the poor, and immigrants, just to name a few.

There is a concept in the Bible called “Shalom”. It’s about much more than “peace”. It’s about a community  where everyone enjoys the peace of God. It’s the idea that everyone has enough food, and shelter, and peace, and opportunity as everyone else. If everyone in the community doesn’t enjoy this shalom, then no one has it.

The idea was floated in the Old Covenant, but it was never actually realized until right after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on the people of God and they began to love one another as Jesus loved them. Suddenly, they were selling their property and sharing what they had with those who had nothing. Why? Because they had been touched and transformed by the love of Christ.

The result was that “there was not a needy person among them.”

So, if we have been touched and transformed by the love of Christ, we also need to seek the “shalom” of everyone in our community. If there are some among us – especially if they are brothers and sisters in Christ – and they have no shalom, then none of us can really enjoy it either.

I’m here to tell you that you and I have brothers and sisters in the black community who are desperate for shalom. They have no rest. They have no peace. They haven’t the opportunities that you and I in the white community enjoy and take for granted.

This means that it doesn’t matter what anyone does or does not “deserve”. What matters is how we want others to treat us, and then extending that same treatment to everyone – especially those who are on the outside looking in.

I wish I could afford to fly to Baton Rouge and stand outside the courthouse holding a sign that says “Justice For Alton Sterling!” with 40 other white Christian men. I wish I could mobilize a group of white Christians willing to stand up and link arms with members of the black community and say in unison with them: “Enough of the violence against black people!”

But here’s what I can do: I can speak up. I can raise my voice. I can risk my reputation among other white people by taking a stand against this systemic racism and violence.

Here's what I cannot do: I cannot trade places with Alton Sterling, or Philando Castile, or Trayvon Martin, or Tamir Rice. Because I am white and nothing can change that.

Here's what else I cannot do any longer: Remain silent and do nothing while more people are shot and killed because of the color of their skin.

Speak up. Stand with them. 

Our brothers and sisters need us now.

-kg

Dear Officer: We See You.

Please watch the video linked here. I want to say a few things about it and you'll need to have watched it to understand everything I'm trying to say.

Watched it? Good. Here's my response:

First of all, I agree with much of it. Honestly, being a cop is a difficult, challenging, and largely thankless job. Anyone willing to put themselves in harm's way to "protect and serve" on a daily basis is worthy of our support and respect.

There was once a time in my life when I wanted to be a cop. Largely because of what I had been exposed to in TV and Movies, I thought being a police officer would be exciting and fun.

But then I read a book that was a collection of interviews with actual, real-world police officers and that changed my mind in a hurry. These guys talked about walking into houses where people had been dead for weeks and how the smell nearly suffocated them. They talked about getting calls to dangerous neighborhoods in the middle of the night and discovering that it was a trap and there were guys with shotguns waiting to kill them when they entered the dark warehouse. They talked about cleaning the brains of their partner off their uniforms after a deadly shoot-out.

That's when I decided that I should stick to writing.

Police work is more difficult and challenging than most of us will ever - ever - know.

Having said that, there is much in this video that I disagree with. Actually, a whole lot.

Those who created this video have done so largely as a response to "those who crucify (cop's) character while minimizing (their) cause", and by that they mean people who make up the "very vocal and sparse opposition (who) flood social media with their misplaced passions and their idea of justice." [To quote the video above]

The incidents they are referring to, no doubt, include the recent shootings of unarmed black men (and women) by police officers over the last year or so. For more specifics on who those people were and how many, you can see a short summary here.

What I object to is the suggestion that those who are critical of the specific police officers who shot and killed these unarmed black people are guilty of "crucifying" the character of every other police officer.

Question: Would it be "crucifying the character" of every school teacher to criticize the few school teachers who (about every other month it seems) get caught having sex with their under age students?

Would you accuse someone who spoke out about priests who sexually molest children in their congregations of having "misplaced passions" or "wrong ideas of justice?"

Yet, whenever someone (like me) shares a link on Twitter or Facebook about yet another police officer shooting involving an unarmed black man or woman, the response is often a very vocal "Shame on you!" for daring to even mention such behavior in a negative light - much less write an actual blog article (like this one).

Furthermore, would we be ok if those teachers were caught molesting our children on video, and yet a Grand Jury decided not to prosecute them, and then they were put back into the classroom again where they could continue to harm more children? Would that be ok?

With priests, isn't it true that we hold them to a higher standard of accountability simply because of the authority and trust we put in them as people who are sworn to integrity and honor?

And when evidence of widespread abuse of that authority by church leaders comes to light, are we not outraged about that and moved to action? Don't we want those people to be put on trial, and for justice to be done and for the victims to have a voice?

So, why is it that when a police officer - someone who is equally held in high esteem and honor within our society - breaks that trust, commits a crime, or kills an unarmed person, we suddenly look down on anyone who cries out for justice, or stands up for the victims, or speaks out?

The video clip does make a few good points about policemen: Most are good, hard working, conscientious people. They love their children. They love their wives and husbands. They love their dog and they laugh and cry and bleed just like every other person on the planet.

What I would like to challenge, however, is the idea that every police officer is automatically "honorable...courageous..." and "...worthy of a nation's support".

Really? What about Christopher Dorner? He was a US Navy officer who served honorably and received several commendations for his service in Bahrain, and then went on to join the LAPD. Soon after, he was fired for attempting to blow the whistle on another officer who was using excessive force. After that termination, he went on a shooting spree and killed several innocent people until he was eventually cornered and shot.

Even the most ardent supporter of police officers would have to admit that there are some police officers who are not worthy of the badge.

And if we really want people to trust the police officers in our community, and to reasonably teach our children to do so, then we need to start seeing abuses of power dealt with and punished - not covered up and shouted down.

Not every police officer is automatically "honorable, courageous and worthy of a nation's support."

Neither is every school teacher automatically a great person, or a wonderful member of society.

Nor is every member of the clergy someone that every one should respect and honor.

The only people worthy of our honor and our respect are those who are actually honorable.

If a police officer shoots and kills an unarmed 12 year old, he is not honorable or courageous or worthy of our support.

If a school teacher sexually assaults a student, he is not worthy of our respect.

If a priest or a pastor takes advantage of a child, he is not someone we should honor.

Back to the video clip above: I won't even try to get into the fact that this video features a cast of 23 white people and only 2 African Americans, or argue with their statistic that "Every 53 hours an officer is killed in the line of duty"  - which is totally false and can easily be refuted with a quick Google search. (Actual numbers are about half of that).

At one point the narrator says, "I wish I knew how to fix it." But what she wants to "fix" isn't the seemingly endless barrage of unarmed black people shot by police. Nope. What she wants to know how to "fix" is the way police officers are perceived in the media, and by the American public. Specifically, she wants to stop people from criticizing police officers, regardless of why they criticize them.

One idea: Start eliminating "bad cops" who use excessive force. Stop punishing "good cops" who try to blow the whistle. Start weeding out applicants at the Police Academy level who tend to be bullies who can't wait to get that badge and gun. Start putting police officers who use excessive force on trial for their crimes. Start prosecuting cops who choke people to death on the sidewalk, or who shoot 12 year olds dead in the park, etc.

Any of those ideas would be a great start. But it's much easier to just make a video.

I'm all in favor of honoring the good cops who genuinely care about the people they protect and serve. Let's do all we can to help them. We need their tribe to increase.

But at the same time, let's please also do all we can to eliminate the bad cops who give those good cops a bad name.

Why would anyone be against the idea of doing both?

-kg

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MORE STATISTICS

Out of roughly 400 reported police killings annually, an average of 96 involved a white police officer killing a black person.

African-Americans and the mentally ill people make up a huge percentage of people killed by police.

27 police officers were killed in 2013, according to the FBI.

There were no fatal police shootings in Great Britain last year. Not one.

In Germany, there have been eight police killings over the past two years.

In Canada — a country with its own frontier ethos and no great aversion to firearms — police shootings average about a dozen a year.