Pastor’s note: Trigger warning. I’m going to get political
again. Be forewarned.
A couple of years ago, I went to visit NRA headquarters
(Yes, I know. Pilgrim in an unholy land and all that.) I went because, as I’ve
said before, I am a shooting hobbyist and the NRA has a pretty sick shooting
range on site. My brother-in-law and I wanted to check it out. While we were
waiting for the range to open up, we stopped in to see the Firearms Museum also
on site. In addition to shooting, I also like history, so that was a double
bonus for me that day.
But what struck me most about my visit was not anything at
the range or in the museum. It was the security guard: a tall well-built
African-American man carrying (not surprisingly) a handgun on his belt. I
remember thinking, “Wow. You’re like the thing the NRA fears most: a black man
with a gun.”
In the course of the past 48 hours, there have been two high
profile shootings of African-American men by police, one in Baton Rouge, LA and
the other in St. Paul, MN. The men’s names were Alton Stirling and Philando
Castile. Both men were LEGALLY carrying firearms. Neither man drew nor
threatened the police with said weapons. Both men were shot and killed
nonetheless. And the NRA’s response to the brutal murder of two men legally
exercising their right to bear arms? Crickets.
Not surprising. My joking thought about the security guard
holds true. Nothing is scarier than a black man with a gun. Actually, scratch
that. Nothing is scarier for many white folks than a black man period.
It’s all about race. We can pretend otherwise, but recent
events have put proof to this. This is why #BlackLivesMatter exists. Time and
again, we’ve seen this pattern. A black man (or teen in many cases) is stopped
for a suspected crime. He either cooperates (Philando Castile), flees (Michael
Brown, Walter Scott), or resists (Eric Garner, Alton Stirling). Regardless, he
is immediately regarded as a threat and shot (pretty much all of them) and,
even if he is arrested, it’s even money if he makes it to the station alive
(Freddie Grey).
This is barbaric. And yet, too often, white America turns a
blind eye to this abuse of power. Why? Because nothing is scarier than a black
man. We excuse this because of our own fears and prejudices.
But let us be blunt. We are supposed to be a society of
laws. And those laws say two things, right there in the Bill of Rights of our
Constitution (The Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to be specific). One,
that every criminal suspect has the right to due process. They are to be arrested,
tried by a jury of their peers, and only punished if they are found guilty of
the crime. Innocence is assumed until guilt is proven beyond a reasonable
doubt. This is how it is supposed to work, regardless of race or any other
factor. All are equal before the law.
Two, the punishment will fit the crime. Cruel and unusual
punishments are forbidden. Extreme and draconian punishments are forbidden. We
are not supposed to be killed for minor infractions of the law. Capital
punishment is reserved only for the most heinous of crimes: murder, treason,
and the like.
Tell me how these men did not have their fundamental rights
violated? Tell me how they received due process of the law? Tell me how their
punishment (death) fit their supposed crimes?
We can’t, because these men DID have their fundamental
rights violated. And time and again this happens and we ignore it because we’re
afraid. Time and again, we excuse the murder of black men, of innocent people,
because we lack the courage to stand up to our own prejudicial fears. THIS IS
WRONG. THIS IS EVIL. And I will call it what it is.
Last night, as a peaceful protest over the murders of
Stirling and Castile broke out in Dallas, one vigilante took it upon himself to
open fire on police. Eleven cops were hit, five of whom have died as of this
writing. Again, we are supposed to be a society of laws. We have fundamental
rights guaranteed in our Constitution, including trial by jury and appropriate
punishment.
Tell me how these police officers did not have their
fundamental rights violated? Tell me how they received due process of the law?
Tell me how their punishment (death) fit their supposed crimes?
Again, we can’t. These officers had nothing to do with the
murders of Stirling and Castile and even if they had, we have a process of law
to answer that. Vigilante murder of police is no better than the murder of
innocent black men. Again, THIS IS WRONG. THIS IS EVIL. And I will call it what
it is.
One of the common complaints of our modern society is how
morality has become relative. It’s okay if I do it, but not if you do. You see
this time and again where we excuse “our side” for their sins, yet excoriate
others for theirs. No, this is not how it works. Evil is evil. Good is good.
Therefore, people of good conscience can and should see both
these acts of senseless violence as wrong. There is no contradiction in being
opposed to police brutality and yet wanting our law enforcement officers to do their
duty in safety. I do not want cops to die. Nor do I wish to see innocent
citizens of our country to be brutalized because of their race. There is no
either/or in this. It is a both/and.
As Christians, we are called to resist this moral relativism
that so plagues our society. But more importantly, we must resist it within
ourselves. It is so easy to become tribal in these days, to see our world as “us-vs-them.”
But we cannot fall prey to such thinking, for it gives sanction to evil within
our midst, on OUR side. We cannot make excuses for our own side, for our own
people, while condemning the evils of others. Jesus had some choice words about
that.
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite!” – Matthew 7:3-5a
Jesus is not mincing words here. Beware your own sins as
much, if not more so, as those of others. Do not condemn #BlackLivesMatter for
the murder of those Dallas Police Officers without acknowledging how often we’ve
ignored the dying pleas of innocent black men at the hands of police. Do not
damn rogue police officers without recognizing the unlawful deaths of cops at
the hands of criminals. Both are wrong. Both are evil.
And I will call it what it is.
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