My feelings are deep this evening. Let me offer some thoughts: Not a single police officer has been indicted in the killing of a person of color in the United States. Every 28 hours an African American is shot and killed by the police. The rhetoric has too often been that somehow people of color are more violent or dangerous. Too often white folks perceive everyday normal communication by African Americans as angry or aggressive because it does not fit the standard European communication styles that have been inherited. Too many children are in the school to prison pipeline. Too often people of color receive the most that can be sentenced while white folks get the least. We cannot just say people are equal and think that will do it. We need to have an evaluative process that continually questions and transforms our systems of justice and governance. That a police officer could shoot a person 6-7 times and not have that considered to be extreme force is saying something. I am absolutely sure that the Grand Jury followed the letter of the law. What I am not sure of is whether that law was just. Too much bad blood exists for us to think we can just move forward without change. So, we begin again...and again...and again...practicing, communicating, working together to find healing and wholeness for ALL people in our country regardless of their culture, community, language, or background. Let us strive for more restorative justice and less punitive. Let us strive for a world transformed by our care. I will continue to march and protest and foster conversation. Tomorrow I will have the privilege of facilitating a conversation among children who live in Ferguson about their experiences and about race. I will preach on Sunday about what is next. I will continue to educate and create space for learning about race in my congregation and beyond. I will do what I can do. What can you do? What will you do?
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 05:01:54 +0000
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