I don’t normally write on race, but I don’t think I can or should be quiet about this matter anymore. Our country is quickly reaching a state of emergency. We are seeing again and again a great travesty–the killing of African-American men without consequence. If we as Christians don’t call this out and commit ourselves to doing something about it, then we are not living into our high calling as people who claim the name of Jesus.
Eric Garner, MIchael Brown, and Trayvon Martin: they were all African-American, all unarmed, and they’re all dead, and in not one of these cases was anyone finally held accountable for their deaths. In the first two cases their killers were white. In the third case, that of Trayvon Martin, the killer was mixed-race, white and hispanic. Two of these shootings occurred at the hands of people who have taken an oath to protect and serve, casting a pall over the reputations of many good and honorable law enforcement officers.
In the cases of Garner and Brown, not only was no one held accountable, there was not even a trial to judge whether or not wrongdoing had occurred. No, we should not convict people before they receive a fair trial, but in these cases there was not even the opportunity for a fair trial. The police officers who killed these two men were never indicted. Now the opportunity for an extended examination of the facts and circumstances of these killings is lost to us.
I believe that most Christians, regardless of their race, know this is wrong. And yet, what’s going to change so that this doesn’t happen again? How are we going to make this, at the very least, less likely in the future? What’s going to be different? The problem may seem so great that we feel we can’t help, but the truth is that we can all do something. Some of us have more influence than others, but each of us can contribute in a variety of ways to the creation of a society in which these kinds of tragic events don’t happen. Over time, small drops of water can destroy a large rock.
If you read this blog very often, you know that I often write about issues related to people with disabilities. This is in part because my youngest son, Sean, lives with a disability. He has Down syndrome. When he was diagnosed a few hours after his birth, the lives of my wife and me, along with our oldest son, Luke, were changed forever. My perspective began to change. The direction of my research began to change. I began to realize how important advocacy for people with disabilities can be.
In 2013, an adult man with DS was killed by police in a movie theater. According to the medical examiner, the cause of death was asphyxiation by homicide. None of the police officers involved was ever indicted.
The incident, in and of itself, was tragic. But all the more tragic was that very few people even seemed to care that it happened. It splashed on the news for a few days, and then it was gone. We all moved on with our lives, thinking and acting no differently than before. But our cultural indifference doesn’t change the facts: this young man–representing one of the most vulnerable population groups in our society–is dead, and his death was completely avoidable. For disabilities advocates, the collective shrug of the wider culture was heartbreaking.
Our personal investments in people and issues affect our perspectives in dramatic ways, and race certainly shapes our personal investments. According to an article in The Atlantic,
Polls since the incident [the shooting of Michael Brown] demonstrate that black and white Americans see this incident very differently. A Huffington Post/YouGov poll finds that while Americans overall are divided over whether Brown’s shooting was an isolated incident (35 percent) or part of a broader pattern in the way police treat black men (39 percent), this balance of opinion dissipates when broken down by race. More than three-quarters (76 percent) of black respondents say that the shooting is part of a broader pattern, nearly double the number of whites who agree (40 percent). Similarly, a Pew Research Center poll found that overall the country is divided over whether Brown’s shooting “raises important issues about race that need to be discussed” (44 percent) or whether “the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves” (40 percent). However, black Americans favor the former statement by a four-to-one margin (80 percent vs. 18 percent) and at more than twice the level of whites (37 percent); among whites, nearly half (47 percent) believe the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves.
My perspective on disabilities was changed because of my ongoing personal relationship with a child with a disability. Personal relationships give us insight into the lives and viewpoints of other people. Yet, according to an article in the Washington Post, “the average black person’s friend network is eight percent white, but the average white person’s network is only one percent black.” Until this changes, we are likely to persist in misunderstanding.
I don’t know what it’s like to be black in America. I do know, however, what it’s like to care about something so deeply you can feel it in your bones, while much of the world seems oblivious, silent, and hardhearted. It is a sick feeling. It can lead to desperation. When I see the images of people protesting around the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, I see that same sick feeling, a desperate cry growing louder and louder: “SOMEBODY LISTEN TO ME!!!” Martin Luther King Jr. said that riots are the voice of the unheard.
I’ve seen the #blacklivesmatter hashtags, and I’ve seen the #alllivesmatter hashtags. I get the “all lives matter” thing. All lives do matter. But not all lives face the same set of circumstances, and there are times when we have to call attention to the lives of particular groups of people to help right societal wrongs. In the face of goings-on particularly related to race, simply to say “all lives matter” is to ignore the specific problem of racism, to act as if it doesn’t exist. Racism, however, does exist. It’s a real problem, both on personal and social levels. People desperately want to be heard on this matter, and when people want to be heard, it’s a good idea to listen.
As Christians, we can’t simply attend to our own favorite causes. I make noise about people with disabilities. Another person writes about issues of gender. Others write about race, and still others write about human sexuality. And while we won’t always agree with one another on these issues, we will never make progress on any of them if we simply stay in our echo chambers, never listening to one another, never allowing our minds to be changed, never allowing the words and perspectives of other groups to sink in at a deep level and affect our actions and attitudes. We have to care for one another, and that means caring about what others care about most passionately.
So, to my African-American brothers and sisters in Christ: I know I am only a bit player in God’s work of justice and righteousness, but I’m committed to doing what I can to stand alongside you. I don’t claim to be more enlightened than or morally superior to anyone else, nor am I saying anything particularly innovative. As a recent article from RNS states, “With back-to-back grand jury decisions that white police officers will not face charges in the deaths of unarmed black men, white Christians, including evangelicals, have grown more vocal in urging predominantly white churches to no longer turn a blind eye to injustice and to bridge the country’s racial divides.” Christians have done great things in the past by working together across historical lines of division, and with God’s help we can do it again.
David F. Watson 
I don’t know how I feel about this post. I feel like it and other very similar posts are saying that the policemen involved were racist or that they were driven to kill these people because of racist motivations. Really? How is that not judging them? If a jury and investigators who had ALL the evidence did not find any reason to condemn these men then why are you and everybody else? I mean, these are people who put their lives on the lives every day to serve and protect.
One of the members of the congregation I pastor is the assistant to the chief of police in our county. I know what they go through and all that they see. When people just simply accuse officers for shooting someone dead for racist reasons it kind of pisses me off.
My best friend in the ministry is a local black Baptist pastor (I’m UMC). My churches yearly have joint services with his and we try to work at loving one another, crossing man-made boundaries, and really trying to be a colorless Christian community. We talk very frankly about racial matters and I’ve learned a lot about the experience of being black in America. I’ve did mission work and I know how it feels to be in the minority; it’s scary. So again, my feelings are mixed on this post.
I think the best thing to do is quit accusing people of being racist. These officers were put in bad situations and reacted to bad circumstances. Do you think that any of them wanted this? Is there not in place all sorts of police training concerning racism, prejudice, and the right course of action? Are there not all sorts of internal checks and controls to prevent injustice in our modern day systems of government?
All I’m saying is what the heck are accusing people of and what exactly do people want? These people were acquitted after all sorts of investigations and fair trials – are we saying that they were wrong? How do we know that? Are we saying that their is a racial problem with white cops? Is there a problem in the justice system?
What exactly is the main problem – can somebody tell me that? All the posts I have read vaguely say that there is a problem and it needs to be addressed. I feel that everybody is being too vague, too general and are just riding the tide of high emotions. What exactly needs to be fixed? People are saying all sorts of things about these events but nothing with substance.
The policemen that killed Eric Garner and Michael Brown never went to trial and so of course were never acquitted, either. Under political pressure, prosecutors convened grand juries but didn’t aggressively seek indictments which would have led to trials. In a grand jury, the victim has no advocate and there’s no cross examination of witnesses. There’s a saying in legal circles that: “You can indict a ham sandwich.” What that means is that the prosecutor completely controls the indictment process and presents only the evidence that he wants to present to the grand jury, i.e. if he wants an indictment he gets it. It should also be noted that a grand jury is specifically instructed NOT to determine innocence or guilt, but only to determine if a crime might have been committed.
So, do you think the problem is that the prosecutor failed to present enough evidence to indict the policemen? Was their corruption in this case? Is there any evidence to support this claim?
I speak out in my local congregation and community against racism – whether it’s personal, communal, or systematic. I am just want to know WHAT the main problem is here in these cases. What exactly is the injustice? There is a lot of noise but not a lot of substance.
What I suspect is that’s there’s going to be a lot of blah, blah, blah but nothing come out of it. As a pastor, I serve some of the local police officers in our area and I know firsthand what they face everyday. What can be do to safeguard them and also racial minorities? Can somebody tell me that? What is not being done? What are the specifics that can be done? All I’m seeing is a lot of anger and stereotyping – racism is going to continue to be a problem till the day the Lord comes because of the condition of the human heart. So, what are we going to do about it? Accuse people, write angry blog posts, and not deal with real life as it is?
I’ve been telling all the libs/progressives in my mostly white UMC denomination that racism has not been “solved” and that we might ought to be focusing on it than sexual topics for a while now. It’s about time that people start listening to the real life situations of real people – the police, minorities, etc. A lot of blah, blah, blah is not going to do anything. Transforming hearts through salvation that is only found in Christ will. I’ve seen it firsthand. Maybe we ought to quit barking at the po po and do some evangelism. Lord’s knows we’re failing at that terrible here in the States.
Pastor J, with all due respect, I disagree with the way you’ve framed the relevant issues in this comment. A video of Eric Garner’s being choked to death is not “blah blah blah.” Perhaps there are factors I don’t know about or understand related to the grand jury’s failure to indict the officer involved, but I can certainly see why so many people are outraged.
Pastor J, I don’t know what was going on in the heads the individual police officers. And, as I said in the post, I recognize and appreciate that there are many very fine police officers who conduct themselves with integrity. What I’m trying to call attention to is a larger set of circumstances. Black men (and boys) are being killed again and again by white officers, and there seems to be no serious accountability. In other words, we’re seeing a pattern of events that points to a problem with serious racial implications. I just want to be part of the solution, not part of the ongoing problem.
I hear you but what are the specifics? You say that “young black men are being killed again and again by white officers” (yet you only cite one incident). Are you saying that these white cops are killing black people out of racist motives? Do you have any evidence to back this up. Just because there is something happening in our world does NOT mean that the causation is simple. I live close to Memphis that young black men here are killing other black young men like crazy here – and I can show you the statistics. I mean, I’m not saying that there are NO incidents of racist violence of white cops on young black men and, on the flip side, I think it’s totally wrong to blame all of these incidents on white racist cops. Good Lord, I think the situation is far more complex that its being framed.
Also, the “blah, blah, blah” comment is a reference to the message that a lot of Christian bloggers, writers, etc. are putting out there. There’s just simply parroting the media. We’re Christians – how about we include a little theology in what say? How about we proclaim that the fundamental problem behind all these things is human sin – systemic sin, communal sin, personal sin?
I mean, we’re Christians – do we think that we’re going to change the racial violence in our country through soapbox preaching? The only way that we’re change things is if individual hearts are transformed through the gospel. I say this because in the UMC evangelism is frowned upon. There’s been a lot of writing from bishops, teachers, pastors, etc. that have do not even try to include the orthodox doctrine of human depravity (like Wesley), who believe that people are intrinsically good and all that they need is a few “enlightened” individuals to teach them a better way, and we’ll drink a Coke and sing kumbaya.
I am sure that the apostle Paul witnessed all sorts of racial violence in his day. And I am also sure that he would not have approached it in a atheological way. Heck, look at the way that he approached racial issues in the church in the book of Romans. He said that everyone has fallen short of the glory of God, no one seeks God, all need forgiveness and the power of the Holy Spirit to escape bondage to the power of sin. And then he called the Jews and Gentiles (racial problems) to love another, be patient, kind, and understanding. You look at what’s happening in Ferguson and in other parts of the world and you know what it is – it’s lost people acting like lost people. And there is no solution but the cross of Christ. We’re Christians – let’s not say the same old things that the media is saying but instead proclaim the gospel. By and large, we Christians are failing to evangelize and make disciples and right now we’re facing the consequences.
David, I’m sorry if I come across jerky and I’m sorry that I took up so much space on your blog posts. I’ve just been really let down that I’ve yet to read something from a Christian writer that addresses these situations in a theological manner. I’m glad that you do speak about race issues and other such things that often times get swept underneath the rug. We need to speak to these things but we are not also speaking the gospel in our own personal contexts (witnessing, evangelizing, investing our time in people) then we are part of the problem, not the solution. Only the love of God poured out into human hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit can truly release people from the power of prejudicial hate.
I very much appreciate this post and the risks you take writing it. I appreciate your passion for your son and the larger Down syndrome community. And I appreciate your ability to see the intersectionality of unfairness/oppression across the various communities so often marginalized by majority culture. Like you I have had, enjoyed and benefitted from what liberals call “straight white privilege.” Like you my life trajectory has been changed by parenting a child not accepted by traditional majority culture. Thank you.
Thanks for the comments and affirmation, Dave.
Thank you David. I very much appreciate your words here.
Thank you!
There’s an elephant in the room that’s not being mentioned in any of these discussions: Some people become cops simply because they like to wear a badge and beat up other people. That propensity is an ugly part of human nature. While there may be some racism (conscious or unconscious) in a grand jury’s decision to indict, both blacks and whites are victims of police brutality. Many cops are upstanding citizens but more than a few are not.
No doubt, but is there any evidence that this was the case in the lives of these police officers – concrete evidence, not just presumptions? Are police depts. failing to properly screen people? Is there any way to 100% guarantee that folks as you mentioned do not get into police forces? I kind of doubt that because of the way that orthodox Christian theology speaks of the human condition. We can always try to do better in our processes though but we do need specifics.
I pray that if there was injustice in these cases that just will ultimately be served.
As for preventing police brutality, requiring police to wear video cameras prevents abuse of suspects and exonerates cops who are innocent. Regarding Eric Garner, watch the video of the police choking him and judge for yourself. It was recorded by a bystander. Regarding Michael Brown, it all depends on who you choose to believe. Here’s what we know: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/08/us/ferguson-brown-timeline/
Britt, I recognize that there are bad cops, but I don’t want to neglect the work of those who are people of honor and integrity. There are bad people in every profession, but with police officers, the potential to do lasting harm is greater than in most other fields.
About 15 years ago in Cincinnati, my car was towed by the police. I called the Hyde Park police station to find it. Over the phone, the police taunted me and dared me to come down to the station and file a complaint. So I went to the station, filed a complaint, and then suddenly I was handcuffed and put under arrest. They indicated that I hadn’t paid a speeding ticket. I offered to pay it there but the officer insisted I spend the night in jail downtown. Then they put me, still handcuffed, in a holding room. The officer told me that when they took me downtown to jail, if I “had an attitude” the police at the jail would “beat the hell out of me.” I waited two and a half hours handcuffed, then a different officer drove me to the jail. While driving, that officer said: “When you get there, don’t say anything to any of the police, don’t look them in eye, just do what you’re told, or the police will beat the hell out of you.” I stayed in jail all night until a friend paid my ticket the next morning. A few days later an officer called me at home about the complaint that I had originally filed. He said the police at Hyde Park had the discretion to allow me to pay the ticket and leave, if they’d wanted to. All phone calls to the police station are recorded, so I asked him if he had listened to the phone call I originally made regarding my car. He said that the recorder “wasn’t working” when I called but admitted that it was working right before and again right after my call.
Very unfortunate post. The burden of proof before a grand jury is preponderance of the evidence. In this country, we do not put citizens on trial where their life or liberty can be taken away unless there is probable cause that a crime was committed and that the defendant committed the crime. Juries of the peers of those unfortunate dead men determined that there was no basis for a reasonable person to believe that the law enforcement officers in the respective cases could have committed a crime.
In a nation of laws, citizens have a duty to obey the lawful commands of law enforcement officers. If this were not the case, the result would be anarchy. Both Eric Garner and Michael Brown would be alive today if they had simply done what the officers told them to do.
Jim Lung
If your scenario is correct, that Eric Garner and Michael Brown didn’t do what the officers told them to do, did they deserve to be shot or choked to death? No.
I don’t know about the Eric Garner case (I haven’t read up on it) but in the case of Michael Brown case the officer was attacked by a very large man who attempted to take his gun. Maybe I’m wrong on the specifics because there is so much conflicting info out there. If you were in the police officers shoes, what would you do? How do you know what you would do?
I hate that these men died. It’s terrible. But we’ve got to be careful that we don’t demonize people. That’s pretty Pharisaical.
I agree completely that we want to avoid demonizing people (unless they are acting demonically). But neither do we want to be so cautious of this that we neglect to do justice to those who deserve it.
You disregard the fact that grand juries in both cases determined that there was no factual basis to charge either law enforcement officer of a crime. But, did they “deserve” to die?
In Brown’s case, it is beyond dispute that he assaulted and injured a police officer, most likely to avoid arrest for a serious crime (strong arm robbery is a serious felony in most States). He then charged at the officer, creating a situation where the officer reasonably believed that he was in imminent danger of death or serious injury. Michael Brown deserved the dignity of his choices.
In Eric Garner’s case, no deadly force was used. He was not “choked.” The apparent negligence of the officers involved in not providing emergency medical care after Gibson was subdued will most likely make his widow very rich. Did he deserve to die? No. Did he deserve the consequences that flowed from his choices? I way he did.
Jim, while it is beyond dispute that Michael Brown assaulted a police officer, the claim that he charged the officer is disputed. As for Garner, we can debate semantics, but the actions of the police officer involved did lead to his death, and the police officer used a technique banned by his own department.
Jim, I respect the honest difference of opinion, but I stand by my contention that, taken together, these incidents represent something broken in our system of justice. And with regard to the preponderance of evidence, in the case of Garner there is video evidence of being choked to death using a choke hold banned by the NYPD. Garner said eight times that he couldn’t breathe. I can’t imagine what more evidence would be needed to move this to trial.
The physical evidence establishes beyond reasonable doubt that Brown was charging Wilson.
I agree that it’s possible that unreasonable force was used against Garner. There are technical issues concerning the so-called “choke hold.” That Garner was able to complain that he couldn’t breathe some 11 times indicates that he was not being choked. I’m overweight (though not yet as obese as Garner) and if I lie on the floor, I have difficulty breathing.
We don’t know all of the circumstances surrounding Garner’s encounter with the police. It is against the law to refuse to comply with a police officer’s lawful command. Garner apparently felt the law did not apply to him. If every peace officer decided to ignore “minor” or “innocent” lawlessness, think what that would do to our culture.
David, I understand and share your outrage at what happened in Ferguson and New York City. However, the two cases taken together tell us more about the state of our culture than our system of justice. I work in the system. The justice system is not “broken” — to say it’s broken implies we can fix it. We can’t fix it, because the societal and cultural preconditions for a civil society no longer exist.
To embrace the narrative of the left, that white racism is root cause of the problems in our system of justice, is the wrong approach.