Saturday, August 23, 2014

Out This Week - Prayers for Ferguson & Racial Reconciliation

I have been following as closely as I can the events taking place in Ferguson, Missouri after an 18-year-old boy named Mike Brown was shot to death by a police officer, even though his hands were raised in surrender, because he was black and the officer was white.

By Their Strange Fruit has details of the situation and important links to more information.  As I white person in a nearly all-white northern U.S. city, I haven't been quite sure what to say, but I find the advice from Janee Woods below very helpful:

Becoming a white ally to black people in the aftermath of the Michael Brown murder
A lot of white people aren’t speaking out publicly against the killing of Michael Brown because they don’t see a space for themselves to engage meaningfully in the conversation so that they can move to action against racism. It’s not so much that they have nothing to say but rather they don’t see an opportunity being opened up for them to say something or to do something that matters. Or they might not be sure what to say or how to do it. They might have a hard time seeing a role for themselves in the fight against racism because they aren’t racist, they don’t feel that racism affects them or their loved ones personally, they worry that talking about race and differences between cultures might make things worse, or they think they rarely see overt racism at play in their everyday lives. And, sometimes, they are afraid. There’s a real fear of saying the wrong thing even if the intention is pure, of being alienated socially and economically from other white people for standing in solidarity with black people, or of putting one’s self in harm’s way, whether the harm be physical or psychological. I’m not saying those aren’t valid fears but I am challenging white people to consider carefully whether failing to speak out or act because of those fears is justified when white silence and inaction mean the oppression and death of black people. 
Let’s talk about an active role for white people in the fight against racism because racism burdens all of us and is destroying our communities.
I am out of town camping with my family this week, and I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said anyway.  But my fervent prayer is that this incident will at last prove to be the turning point that will open the eyes of white people like myself across the country, to make real changes to halt the racism that's still going on in our nation.  I want to echo the apology at Beccyjoy to the family of Michael Brown, to the citizens of Ferguson and to people of color across the nation:
I’m sorry. I’m sorry you’ve had to be so loud to get our attention. I’m sorry that another beautiful boy had to die to make us notice that you are oppressed. I’m sorry that no one is listening. I’m sorry that no one believes your experiences. I’m sorry that this is still happening. I’m sorry for the ignorant, invalidating, and racist comments you’ve had to deal with on top of everything else. I’m sorry that I’ve turned a blind eye to your struggle. I hear you, I believe you, I stand with you for justice. You deserve way better.
I hope that "no one is listening" will change now; that we will listen, and pray, and try to effect change.  As Christina Cleveland says so eloquently:
 Can you see the suffering Christ in the oppressed, even the ones who aren’t responding perfectly to society’s oppression? Christ doesn’t just suffer for the innocent, the ones who don’t have the energy to fight back, or the ones who perfectly respond to injustice. He suffers for the ones who suffer now and sin in their suffering.
I pray that we will see the suffering Christ in the oppressed and stop judging them for not being perfectly patient under oppression we have never experienced ourselves (and thus have no idea how we would handle it).

I ask my readers who are Christians to agree in prayer with these voices:

Accidental Devotional
I began to hear that there was a distinct danger you face every day, if people just assume that you are dangerous because you are black and you are male. And I began to hear the stories of police brutality, of unnecessary aggression, of my sophomore boys being treated like criminals simply because of their bodies. . . 
I began to see that my skin granted me access to pretty much anywhere I wanted to go. I began to see how no one ever starts out aggressively toward me, because I am never seen as a threat. I began to understand that my students, my colleagues, my neighbors were not granted the same access, the same pass. . . 
I am praying the people of this country have softer hearts than mine. I am praying that we are broken over Mike Brown and that brokenness is only a beginning. I am praying we listen when we are told that this is only one of many. I am praying we hear when brown mothers tell us they fear for their babies’ lives. I am praying we do something when our eyes and ears are opened to injustice. I am praying we speak out, we reach out, we educate ourselves. I am praying we care.
Five Minute Friday
Black men have the monopoly on unarmed civilian murder by an officer of the law. It’s a fact. As a Christian, I look to my community to share the burden, the questions surrounding racism in America and how we can move forward. I’m trying to navigate this without being written off as another angry black woman. And I don’t want to be quietly spiritually shunned from all the online communities I love, for saying what you have to already know. 
I don’t have to tell you, do I? – Racism is real. . .
God you are greater, greater…
I sang softly, swaying back and forth wringing my hands. Eyes closed. . .
God wasn't upset with me for being angry. And He hadn’t asked me to be quiet. He took those keys with Holy Spirit force. Sometimes that’s what it takes. 
Please understand. 
Being Christian doesn’t exclude us from the conversation. We have to speak up. To be clear, I understand we aren’t all called to every conversation and maybe you won’t write about it, but standing in solidarity with a hashtag or sharing posts you’ve read that resonate with the spirit of Christ and reconciliation could be a beginning.

Shalom In the City
I can’t do anything tangible with these hands, but raise them high. Lord, we are restless for change and anxious for hope. We are witnesses of injustice. We are the women at the foot of the cross, empower us to stay through the torment so that we can be present to bind up wounds and then—see resurrection. 
I raise my hands to God who out of his great love for his children heard their cries and carved a path towards justice when there seemed to be no way. Make a way in Ferguson, MO, Lord. Make a way and drown the Enemy of your peace in your waves of Justice.
Today, I raise my hands because the truth is Black Lives Matter and black kids don’t have to be college-bound for their deaths to be tragic. I raise my hands for the truth that Jesus identified with the poor, broken, marginalized, and ignored. I raise my hands because Jesus is our Truth and he will make us free.
God bless all of you.  See you next week.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

You do realize that this "boy" had just committed a violent robbery & had physically assaulted the police officer as well? So should our police & law abiding public of all races be held hostage by aggressive law - breakers? I feel really bad for the officer & his family.

Kristen said...

You do realize that eyewitnesses have a different version of these events than the official police version, right? You do realize that the officer had no idea that Michael Brown was a suspect in any robbery-- that the altercation happened because Brown dared to act like a teenage boy and refused to stop walking down the middle of the street when ordered to?

You do realize that even if he did rob a store, that's not a capital offense, right? That police officers are not supposed to shoot people whose hands are up in surrender? That it's not a felony to walk down the middle of the street while black?

Please don't just take the white police officers' side. Read the websites I've linked to and think about if it had been your own teenage son.

Anonymous said...

Michael Brown knew he had just committed a crime. You don't think that played into his actions? & the eye witness was the man's criminal partner. How are the abrasions & bruises the cop sustained explained? My teenage son, if stopped by the cops for walking down the middle of the street would have apologized & moved to the sidewalk.

Kristen said...

I viewed the eye-witness report of the friend who was with him. Apparently the cop grabbed Brown by the neck through the window of the car, and dragged his head and upper body through the window into the car. Any abrasions the cop sustained could easily have been caused by Brown trying to fend him off.

For the rest, I have one and only one question: Did an unarmed teenager deserve to be fatally shot six times (the cop's magazine emptied into him) for not moving to the sidewalk? I repeat: the cop DID NOT KNOW Brown was a suspect in any earlier incident, and even if he had-- the young man was unarmed and not threatening him.

In this country people who rob stores deserve fair trials. Not being shot down in the street.

Kristen said...

One other thing: if you're white, then your teenage son grew up understanding police officers to be there for his protection, unless he'd committed a crime. Unless you've lived as a person of color in a town like Ferguson, MS, you don't know what it's like to be more afraid of the people who are supposed to be protecting you than of the people you're supposed to be being protected against. So open your ears and LISTEN.

Kristen said...

I'd like my readers to also view this link: Things to Stop Being Distracted By When a Black Person Gets Murdered by Police

Anonymous said...

I live in Missouri (not Mississippi) & I grew up in Oregon. I know how few black people populate Oregon. You have no idea. It's ridiculous to think that a police officer grabbed a 300 lb man thru his car window for Jay walking. Much more likely that a criminal riding high on adrenaline from just having roughed up a store clerk & stolen something would be looking for trouble. Much more believable. I think it's people like you who are the problem. If my son had attacked a police officer (& my son isn't a huge man), I wouldn't cry foul if he ended up dead. What kind of mother would I be to excuse his violence towards the police officer? Are we just looking the other way while men rob & intimidate & rough up little old men, too?

Kristen said...

All right, I got the wrong abbreviation for MO. Doesn't mean I don't know where it happened. Yes, it is ridiculous-- unthinkable-- that a police officer would grab a man through his window for jaywalking and then shoot him six times. But the unthinkable seems to be happening all the time lately, from a man suffocated by police for selling illegal cigarettes, to a man killed for having a toy gun in his hands in a Walmart.

The police's own story is that the officer knew nothing of the robbery incident. The evidence of other eyewitnesses agree that Brown was pushing himself back from the car, trying to get away. And this is not an isolated incident. This is something that keeps happening to black men, especially if they're big or tall.

It would not be all that odd for an 18-year-old boy to mouth off to a police officer or refuse to obey him. The proper response would have been for the officer to cite him for failure to obey an officer acting in the course of duty, for which he would have gotten a fine or community service.

So you grew up in Oregon and now live in Missouri, and this is supposed to make you an expert, and I'm supposed to believe your interpretation of events over the testimony of eyewitnesses? Sorry, but if I'm the problem, I'm going to proudly go on being the problem, until things change.

Anonymous said...

Things aren't going to change. And that is sad. Sad that criminals will attack the police. Sad that criminals now have a backing & can now be proud of their criminal activity. Sad that law abiding folks have to live in fear because criminals roam the streets & police dare not stop them. Frightening, really. You & others like you feed off the frenzy created by criminals & lend legitimacy to their criminal behavior. Be proud of that all you want. I think it's seriously messed up thinking.

Kristen said...

You can say what you like. But I have offered facts and eyewitness reports for support of my position, while you have offered only speculation and spin.

Anonymous said...

& what kind of world do you live in where it's "normal" for someone stopped by the police to mouth off to the officer? This isn't an episode of "Cops". Normal, law abiding citizens of any age don't do that. White, black, male, female - "normal" people just don't do that as a matter of course. It's really messed up that you would consider that kind of disrespect to be typical of any demographic. No wonder I feel like I'm living in bizarro world sometimes... when people actually think that this sort of behavior is typical. I don't know of any teenager or adult that I interact with who would consider it normal. Of course, I'll readily admit that I don't usually hang out with criminals. They aren't out robbing stores & roughing up clerks.

Kristen said...

I didn't say "normal." I said, "not all that odd." People do, you know, disrespect the police sometimes. What I don't get is how we get from "don't do that" to "you deserve it if the police officer kills you for it."

Anonymous said...

Yes, I dare say that if you are a criminal & attack a police officer, causing injury to that officer & you act as if you are going to attack him again, one could reasonably argue that you "deserve" it if you end up dead. That why police officers carry guns - to protect themselves & the public from violent criminals.

Kristen said...

Your statements simply don't fit the facts of this case. And I find that your continual use of the word "criminal" dehumanizes Michael Brown-- who should, as an American citizen and a human being, be under the benefit of "innocent until proven guilty." But now he will never have a fair trial. However, you have already tried him in your mind and found him to be not somebody's son or friend, but only a "criminal," and in this way have justified his very unjust death.

My own son, in the same scenario, would probably be called a "troubled youth"-- and he'd get his fair trial and fulfill his sentence (light treatment for a first offense). But most of all, he'd still be alive.

Kristen said...

I wanted to say one more thing. I recognize that there are differences in some of the eyewitness accounts, and I didn't write this post to throw the police officer under the bus. I think the problem is much bigger than this one confrontation and that this incident is symptomatic of the larger problem. But I think it's a mistake to just accept the police account of this case when there are so many factors that tell a much more complicated story. And the bottom line is than an 18-year-old is dead who ought to still be alive. This is the fact we have to give the most weight to.

Anonymous said...

You do realize that Michael Brown was a repeat offender, right? Not a first time offender. An 18 is dead for many many reasons, but foremost because if his own actions. You don't get to commit crimes & attack police officers ... i wonder what would have happened if the police officer had been unable to protect himself? Would he be dead & a criminal be free to roam the streets? Michael Brown was a criminal. That's the unpalatable truth.

Kristen said...

Where are you getting your information? Michael Brown had no criminal record. The news is quite clear on that. This conversation has gone on long enough. Please go find somewhere else to spread your misinformation.