A Letter to Christians in America, Pt. 1

A Letter to Christians in America

Part 1.

These are complex and confusing times for many of us who have chosen to follow Jesus Christ. How do you live out your faith publicly in a post-Christian pluralistic society? How do we deepen convictions when we are bombarded by messaging that argues our convictions are the problem? How do demonstrate love to God and our neighbor when expressing our love for God is increasingly socially costly and love for neighbor can be interpreted as compromise?   

We must contend to be loving in our engagements and our disposition with all, especially those who we may describe as our adversaries. We need to stand firm in our convictions, and deepen them in the face of ever increasing pressure to diminish or compromise them.We must also grow in the wisdom of how to best live out faith in light of this current age. I’ll briefly explain the context of my appeal in light of the present cultural moment.

BE LOVING IN OUR ENGAGEMENT

We are told by the Lord Jesus in the Scripture that loving God and loving others (as we do ourselves) summarizes what He calls The Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40). We also declare that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that therefore, when we do speak truth we are to “speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).” We believe that we are in a spiritual conflict on Earth: light vs. darkness, good vs. evil. Yet, we also hold that our battle is not against people but the “principalities”—the unseen, but real spiritual forces that coordinate and contribute to idolatry (not loving God) and injustice (not loving people). Like our Savior who gave his life to give us life, we believe (or at least we ought to believe), that our most potent and promising power is love: not hate, nor retaliation. However, those of us who identify as Christians are increasingly known not for love, but for those two things: hate and retaliation. If we want to change this, we need to take several significant steps:

1. We Need to Abandon The Culture War Mentality.

It is impossible to love with the radical love Jesus modeled when we include among our enemies those who contribute to every major institution in our society (government, academia, entertainment, industry, etc.), yet disagree with us in faith and practice—when we name ourselves the crusading voices in the wilderness resisting “the infidel” through public shaming and public policy. This “culture war” mentality has battle lines drawn across more political lines than spiritual ones from the beginning, which is why civil rights legislation, ameliorating the suffering of the poor and many of the most vulnerable were omitted from that platform. By seeking to preach at, and not winsomely speak to, and by choosing political sides over a truly political voice, a distinctly Christ-centered influence in the culture has waned significantly. Meanwhile the casualties of war were misdiagnosed as the combatants of war, from the AIDS epidemic (dubbed the “gay plague” by many Christians starting in the ‘80’s) to poverty (blamed on the character of “welfare moms” and “gangsters”). More recently, undocumented immigrants have been the scapegoats, disproportionately blamed for crime and job losses in the American economy. The command to “love your neighbor” has been replaced with “blame your neighbor” for their suffering and that needs to change. Of course, it’s easier and less complicated to ‘blame’ since it allows us the illusion that we have avoided the challenges that others suffer through because we are better people who made better choices, and not because often uncontrollable circumstances – such as institutional inequalities that cause zip codes to be the primary indicator of a baby’s income– have been baked into our American pie. Sadly, the unhealthy (and unholy) idea that America is a sanctified “city on a hill” is a main driver of the culture war tendency. The contrast we see between Jesus who in John 4, approaches and meets the needs of Samaritans (in spite of history of animosity and tension) to many in the American church (though not all) who have turned away the Middle Eastern refugee while they face unprecedented violence and devastation is about

        2. We Need To Learn a New Language.

Our culture is changing at a disorienting speed. As new voices and stories—which were previously pushed to the margins—are now centered, many old ways of thinking and talking must change if we’re going to be loving. Now, just because a way is old, doesn’t mean it’s wrong …  but just because a way is old doesn’t mean it’s right either. I’m old enough to remember when “retarded” was considered an appropriate way to refer to someone whose intellectual capacity or way of learning was different than the mainstream. Those words reflected and reinforced unnecessary and unfortunate stigmas, limiting our imaginations about what a person with conditions like autism could contribute to our world—to everyone’s loss. We all advance when we put away vocabulary that damages the Imago Dei (image of God) in all of us.

The same is true with gender and sexuality: two fronts on which the “culture wars” have raged most intently. A range of non-binary labels and descriptions have emerged leaving many of us confused about how to respond with love and truth when we also believe that the Divine revelation for gender is authoritative and aspirational. We ask questions that can sound silly to others in our culture like: “Do I call sexuality an ‘orientation’ or ‘preference’?” and, “Does changing my vocabulary suggest compromise with my convictions?” A culture war response to these questions is radically different than a loving response. Culture war respondents dig in and refuse to change, fearing change means compromised ethics and faith itself.  The motto embraced is: “No Retreat! No Surrender! No Mercy!” Oddly, this mentality conflates treating people with respect as a sign of weakness. Love responds to such requests with “as you wish” and seeks to allow for as much space as possible for those wrestling with their gender or sexuality to find community in what our culture would consider the least likely place: the church. The same is true with race and justice discussions. Many Christians in America borrow heavily from politically conservative critics of social justice movements which tend to be politically left-leaning. Labels such as “cultural Marxists” and “humanistic” and “distracting from the gospel” are widely applied to any who critique the status quo, and who bring attention to the systemic injustices highlighted in Scripture with passionate rebukes. Instead of considering the merits of their arguments, fear-mongering language is used to dismiss such activism. Christians in America need new language to talk about those we disagree with and to recognize how our own Savior used inclusive, loving language to build bridges, not divisions.

            3. We Need a New Posture.

We need a vision and posture that sounds more like Jesus than culture warriors. We need a shift in our posture that can only occur with a relinquishing of power. The culture war approach that dominated from 1980-2014 was ultimately about power: the power to enforce terms and policies, not about shifting our posture to reach those who were distant from us and from God. A new posture, focused on living as authentic Christians in this world is needed. This isn’t so that we can be liked. But isn’t it ironic that being viewed as a caring person is frequently condemned as compromise rather than commended as commandment keeping? A shift in posture means a shift in priorities. Caring for others where we might not have expressed compassion previously is not an abdication of our responsibilities to uphold tradition, but a reallocation of our energy toward a new strategy for transforming the world. Let me propose a simple posture shift starting point. This is for anyone seeking to fulfill the Biblical mandate to live out their faith in public whether that starts with private conversations with co-workers or presentations before class members. Living out our faith in public can be as big as creating programs to meet the needs of those who are on the margins, or as small as the prayer: “Lord help me know where to start!” Whatever the case, our posture must start with awareness of failures before we can get to success: Start out by repenting of all the church’s shortcomings first. For prosperity preaching, sexual assault in the church, political hypocrisy, conversion therapy, racism, sexism, political pandering, and so much more. Start the conversation by asking what the person’s experience has been with the church or with Christians. The list of grievances is often long but it is never the wrong time to do the right thing. Let’s adopt a different posture—one that listens before speaking and seeks to envision a common grace as both divinely revealed and mandated.

Edited by: Christina Utley

Why I’m a Missionary #GivingTuesday

Less than 1% of the world’s missionaries are African American. In fact, for many, the very notion of a black missionary is an oxymoron. Because of the tragic history of missionaries from Europe spreading heretical ideas of eurocentrism intermingled with the gospel of Christ, the entire enterprise is looked upon with understandable criticism and suspicion. I know I’ve had my own reservations and personal battles to fight with the term “missionary.”

And yet, the reality is that prior to the brutal colonization of the Western hemisphere, before the transatlantic slave trade, and even in advance of the Christianity’s spread to Europe, the missionary enterprise was experienced and seen for the positive work it could be. The Ethiopian official described in Acts 8 is likewise celebrated in Ethiopia for his service in Africa in the first century. And that’s why I choose to participate in missionary work. I find a heritage that is deeper and more meaningful than the seemingly diabolical connotation that missionary work, and Christianity in general has with my own heritage as an African American. To many, the association of Christianity with slavery, racism and the stripping of the indigenous cultures of my forebears is reason to reject it. But I don’t for a number of very important reasons.

1) Christ belongs to the World, not just to Europe. Ironically, Europe was on “the other side of the tracks” of what was considered the “civilized” world when the Bible was written. The first humans were not created in Europe, nor were the first advanced civilizations centered there. The center of the biblical world was the Fertile Crescent: Mesopotamia, Africa, and Asia. The primary ethnic group that God chose to interact with, the nation of Israel, was not located near Europe, but at the crossroads of Africa and Asia. African and Asian dynasties in Egypt, Nubia, and Persia are described admirably in the Bible. And the person at the center of the Christian Bible, Jesus Christ, finds himself in defiant opposition to the oppressive Roman Empire (the only European civilization featured at length in the Bible). Christianity makes its way East and South (to Asia and Africa) before it heads North and West (to Europe) in the New Testament. Today, Europeans and European Americans are are rejecting Christianity and embracing neo-pagan movements to reconnect with the traditions of their ancestors. They clearly don’t think that the Christian faith is European in origin. To identify Christianity, a faith over 2000 years old, with the last 500 years of European political dominance is categorically inaccurate. The reaction of the Ethiopian Coptic, Egyptians Coptic, Syrian Orthodox, or Arab Palestinians when I ask them about the supposed European origins of Christianity is bewilderment and confusion. Each of these churches trace their inception back to the first centuries of the church in some cases over a thousand years before some European church traditions (closer to 400 AD not 1500 AD). The misguided misadventures of many of the colonial-era, Eurocentric, missionary endeavors don’t get to define what a “missionary” is in perpetuity! Not when other groups have made their mark before there was ever an established church in Europe.

2) True Christianity is pro-justice and anti-oppression. The belief that authentic Christianity is a white man’s religion only makes sense if one does not separate the Eurocentric syncretization of Christianity from the Christianity of the Bible. Frederick Douglass observed this distinction in his autobiography which led him to reject “slaveholding religion” in favor of the “peaceable Christianity of Christ.” He wrote:

“I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial, and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.”

The Great Emancipator, realized that a different story found itself in the pages of the Bible than the one he was forcibly exposed to as a slave. In The Civil War As A  Theological Crisis, Mark Noll makes the compelling case that slaveholders manipulated the Bible for their own exploitation of others:

“Americans claimed to be following a higher law, even when this higher law only turned out to be a personal preference.”

Slave holding “Christians”, needed to construct a theology that would allow them to brutalize and subjugate people in the most inhumane ways while holding on to a sense of being good Christians. They created fallacious and novel theological inventions like the “Curse of Ham” to justify their brutality and explain away clear violations of Christian ethics. Meanwhile, Christian abolitionists made the case that the Bible vehemently rejected the false notions that Africans weren’t human, who didn’t have souls. In fact, they risked their lives and jeopardized their livelihoods out of a sense of Christian conviction. Ironically, to reject Christianity because of slavery and oppression is to categorically reject Frederick Douglass’s argument for the slaveholders’ arguments who distorted sacred texts to support abhorrent behaviors that Christianity, rightly interpreted, clearly prohibits.

3) The Creatively Redemptive Power of God Gives Meaning to Our Suffering. For many, it’s not the belief that Christianity is innately Eurocentric that causes them to reject it, it’s the problem of how a good God could allow such suffering in the first place. This is a deeply emotional and therefore complex issue. It is quite painful to discover and sit with the atrocities that humanity has executed and suffered over time. The problem of evil in the world is a big one, and yet the response God offers is similar to that of a parent whose child can’t understand why mom or dad is allowing a stranger to stab him repeatedly (with a life saving chemotherapy injection). “You don’t understand it right now, but this will work out for good.” We can even grasp such a tragedy on an individual basis, but when it involves millions of people experiencing undeserved suffering, it’s even more difficult. We get glimpses of hope in the Scriptures. The answer given to one of Israel’s sons, Joseph is helpful for us as well. Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers, sent to prison for crime he didn’t commit, and languished there for years. When asked why he trusted God in the midst of it, he said “what was meant for evil is being used for the good, for the saving of many lives.” He believed in God’s creatively redemptive power. It’s a power at the center of Christianity. Jesus, falsely arrested, and unjustly executed by the State, was resurrected offering reconciliation with God in a glorified state. The cross, the sign of his torment and death, is transformed as a symbol of hope. Jesus then is creative redemptive power incarnate. And for those that believe, we look to that same God and believe, he could even use the atrocities committed against us for our good… even when we can’t possibly see how. We don’t need to see how. That’s the role of faith.

4) My own experience has taught me the power of God. I remain a missionary because of my own experience. God has changed my life and I experience the presence of Jesus in. I’ve seen the power of God change my life and those I’ve had the privilege of serving with over the course of more than 20 years. I don’t just believe prayer works; I’ve experienced it working. I don’t just theorize that mission work can be good, I’ve often been thanked, tearfully, over the course of time by those God has given me the grace to serve. I still believe this is noble work that changes lives because it’s a work that – through the generosity and faithfulness of ministry partners who give and pray for me- has been used to build movements of justice and righteousness. These ministry partners are black, white, American, African, middle aged, millennial, democrats and republicans, wealthy and working class. They are family, friends, and co-laborers who also have had the experience of being transformed by Jesus, our first-century, middle eastern teacher and Redeemer. Together we believe that he is still the answer to transform our world. Would you like to join us? This #GivingTuesday, we’d love for you to help shine light in darkness, and be transformed by the work of giving of yourself sacrificially to touch others. That is the heart of the Gospel, and my heart for you. We will proclaim and demonstrate together the whole gospel is still the power of God to rescue and heal a broken world.

Will you join us?

What’s Good, Friday?

What’s Good, Friday?

The Suffering of a Savior for sin?

The corruption of our condition colliding

with His compassion and kindness

Committed the Christ to crucifixion

Our condemnation de-constructing,

Christ, Cracking the code

that kept us from being co-heirs in

His kingdom.

What a friend we have in Jesus.

See the correlation?

Between the conspiracy that crucified him

and the current corrupt condition

of our courts?

They continue to condemn the guilty and brutalize the marginalized.

Father free the innocent

and expose injustice.

Father forgive them

for they know not what they do.

Father forgive my forgetting the prisoner.

The widow.

The orphan.

Forgive us for …

… for getting for ourselves

and forgetting the foreigner

is You

For as we do to them we do to you.

The weight of glory is heavy in your Passion.

A Mashup:

Selfless-Sacrifice meets indifferent injustice.

Convicting Christ the King From Nazareth

No-good Nazareth

where “bad seeds”

produce spiritual fruit.

Nazareth: Hood like

Norf Philly,

Souf Side Chi,

East Oakland,

West-Side, Crenshaw.

The Author of Life

dwelling at deaths door

among the poor …

He who was rich

so that we could get

Spiritual Bank

still residing in barrios and bungalows

barely bringing home bread

now bingeing on

the Bread of Life.

Basking in whose Body Was Broken

so we wouldn’t have to be.

Good Friday.

Despair being chased by hope.

Somber sonnets stealthily hunted by Celebration Songs

like morning-joy stalking late-night weeping.

Friday:

Good not bad because of hope revealed. Good not great because He suffered still.

Redemption, Formerly known as

“Promise pushed out by pain”

But No!

The conclusion came together like

plot-lines climatically culminating

in a crescendo of completion:

IT IS FINISHED!

The Friday Finale was just a prequel to

The Sunday Salvation Sequel.

Truth crushed to earth will rise again.

Light piercing through Darkness.

Jesus Dee-boes Death

like:

“You want some too, Old Man?”

And tells the bondage of sin,

“Bye, Felicia.”

No, not just

Another Friday.

Act 1 ended in loss but in

Act 2 we gain:

new life

new hope

new power

new righteousness

new justice

new love

new news.

Good News.

#GoodFriday.

Black & Blue

*Artwork courtesy of Alex Medina

Black and Blue

Another one shot dead
leaving my soul black and blue
Heart is hurt from the grief
wandering what am i to do

Why did they take his life?
“He wasn’t even threatening you!”
It’s like just being a black man
is probable cause to shoot

The hashtags are blows to the body
leaving me bruised black and blue
Consoling my wife and my daughter
“Daddy, why did they have to shoot?”

Took a walk went to my barber
He don’t trust no one who wears blue.
Says whites are mostly the enemy.
He’s tired of being black and blue.
Despair leads to anger – he “like next we gonna shoot!”
Only future he sees is one that is black and blue.

I tell him, those cops will see jail time.
Can’t blame him when he says:
“It’s not true.”
Conspiracies sound less like theories
when they pass “Blue Lives Matter” too
Which says: “The cops don’t gotta say nothing”
30 days to shape what is true.
The law just beat down justice
Leaving her blind, black and blue.

I know not all of them are bad.
They texting me sympathies too.
I’ve seen the Spirit change hearts
And reveal the claims of injustice are true
But he don’t know those people.
All he sees is the blacks left blue.

I feel a surge of hope
But then the shooting is shared on YouTube
And the same folks who cried for a gorilla
are now suddenly silent too
and even the church seems to be muted
Now even Christ Body’s black and blue

Woke up to another slaying.
The police chief was black and wore blue.
Talked of snipers on the rooftop
Officers down. 5 dead.
more injured too.

The footage blew my mind.
Cops sprinting into the chaos
while instructing civilians to move
These officers so courageous.
Protecting those protesting you.
See casualties on the street
a madman was sniping so cruel.
Saluting their fallen comrades.
It’s true, they matter too.

And now a new debate stirs
and new accusations too
Yesterday they were silent
Now they blaming protestors who
Cried out for Alton and Philando
slain and their families blue.
“‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ creates distrust!”
As if they have to give us that view
They’re not causing the bruising
They’re just reflecting our wounds.

Can police do their jobs?
Without leaving us black and blue?
How do we hold them accountable?
And tone down the tensions too?
Don’t know and that’s so frustrating.
Not sure what we need to do.

I just know I hope in a Savior.
Cuz he was left black and blue.
The Law beat him down like Rodney.
Taunted and stomped on him too.
He died saying “Father Forgive Them”.
His bleeding was healing us too.
Came on a mission to save us.
One that left him black and blue.
But now we can be fixed – us & the the system too.
He came to establish His Kingdom.
Justice for me and for you.
But we must do more than pray.
Cuz after Gethsemane came Calvary too.
We must be willing to sacrifice.
Yes, there’s a cross for us too.
And I’m not talking bout tweeting
we got much more to do!

“Lord help us to heal!”
We’re reeling so black and so blue.
I pray and I act. Lord “Show us what to do.”
And protect as we fight for the right.
Both for the black and the blue.

A Good Friday for Brussels & Black Lives that Matter

Good Friday. It’s very strange label for a day in the calendar memorialized by the murder of a man believed by over a billion people to be God incarnate. Ever since I began to follow Jesus, Good Friday has been to me a big deal. The ‘good’ in Good Friday points us to the outcome of the tragic, unjust execution of an innocent man. The resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday reinterprets the crucifixion for us. The worst day in human history became one of the best. I see many significant implications of Good Friday for us in 2016.

In the wake of the Brussels terrorist attacks, what good news of hope can be uttered to those victims and their families? There are no easy answers for such a senseless loss of life, and any attempt to give them is futile. But what Jesus can say is “I understand because I’ve been the innocent victim of terrorism as well.” Terrorism is defined as “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce especially for political purposes.” That pretty much summed up the motives of the Roman use of crucifixion and the Jewish high priests who were involved in the persecution and killing of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was a victim or terrorism, his mother, his friends, his supporters, all bore in their faces the look of shock and grief too familiar with those who have experienced such tragedy. When going through ordeals, it’s good to know that someone can relate to your pain. Jesus can also empathize with the “othering” and alienation that happens when people look to blame groups for these attacks (such as Middle Eastern people, all Muslims, immigrants, etc.). He can do this because he was the other, crucified outside of the city.  It’s a Good Friday, because today we remember that God Himself can relate to our pain. Jesus was Brussels.

Jesus was also the victim of injustice and police brutality. The Gospels make it clear that the Roman soldiers used excessive force in their treatment of him (Mark 15:16-20) and without due process, or any evidence he was executed for crimes he didn’t commit (Mark 15:14-15). Injustice is one of the major wrongs that God exposes and rails against in the Bible. Justice is also one of the primary components of his eventual, perfect administration. It’s a Good Friday because we remember that God Himself was a victim of injustice and an advocate for the oppressed. Jesus was the innocent, unarmed, black man.

 

Lastly, Jesus was alone. As He agonizingly grasped for every gasp of breathe on the cross, he cried out “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Though he told others he would be alone in the moment of his sacrificial death on the cross, the actual experience of the isolation between Him, His Father and everyone else was excruciating. He was isolated from everyone as he bore the sin of everyone. Even as brutal as the physical effects of crucifixion was, the physical pain wasn’t the worst part. Not even close. It was the alienation from his Father. It’s a Good Friday because, for everyone that has ever experienced the pain of loneliness, we can reflect on the truth that God himself was isolated and ostracized on the cross. He can relate to our suffering because the relationship he has with his Father throughout eternity was severed when he became sin for us. Jesus was you and me when we are the most alone.

The layers and nuances of this story are rich. Typically the sacrificial death of Jesus is only highlighted for its role in restoring for us a right relationship with God. But in times like these, it’s also important to note that its importance in the reconciliation of right relationships with each other is crucial as well. And for those reasons and many more, it’s a Good Friday!

My Reflections On The Anniversary of #Ferguson: 3 Ways You Can Respond

I’ve tried to write this several times this year but the tragic repetition of each news story “Unarmed Black Man Killed By Police” left me at a loss of words. Additionally, I also had to process the defensive reactions to the cries of injustice and #BlackLivesMatter that rang out over the last year. August 9, 2014 was a day many of us will never forget. I know I won’t. I remember watching the shocking video on CNN of a dead, black male body laying in the middle of the street for over four hours, like roadkill, as neighbors watched in outrage.

That disturbing scene was my introduction into the Mike Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. As the protests and unrest grew in the weeks that followed, I prepared to write. But then, a grand jury decided not to indict the officer who we saw kill Eric Garner while using an illegal chokehold. Once again, I planned to write something, but the shouts for justice for Freddie Gray, killed in police custody prompted more anger, disbelief, and reflection. And the names kept coming:

     

Mike Brown, Ezell Ford, John Crawford, 12 year old Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Christian Taylor (August 7, 2015), [all pictured above in order] and more were all part of this story. It seemed like each day another tragedy unfolded.

During the last 12 months a disturbing trend of unarmed black men being killed by police officers emerged.That’s a tragedy that ought to be lamented, not a political football to be kicked around.

There is another tragedy as well: too many people don’t see Mike Brown, Samuel Dubose, Freddie Grey, and Eric Garner as imago dei – made in the image of God. They are to some simply inconvenient anecdotal evidence that the America that many black people live in is different and less fair than white people. But they were more than that. They were people with infinite worth and value.

The rush to support the police (or demonize them) distracts from the point. It’s not just about if the officers were guilty of a crime or not, although that is important. It’s about the obvious reality that these tragedies happened, and that they disproportionately happened to a certain demographic: black people. When we create caricatures of “good guys and bad guys” it prevents us from simply grieving with those who grieve and advocating on their behalf. In the Good Samaritan story that Jesus told, the Samaritan doesn’t stop to figure out what the man left for dead did. He didn’t ask “Well, did he deserve it? Maybe he started the altercation and the other guy just defended himself?” He just helped the poor soul.

When we see these dead men and women as imago dei ~ made in the image of God ~ then we can agree that their untimely deaths are tragedies that had ripple effects in their families and communities. In light of the fact that they were unarmed we also should ask what best practices ought to be implemented to reduce the likelihood of police officers using deadly force. It’s a conversation that should happen in the wake of such loss of life. Such a dialogue also can protect law enforcement from the burden and consequences they face as a result of these tragedies. Officer Darren Wilson, who shot Mike Brown, is unemployed and in hiding in light of unfortunate threats against his life. The officer who shot Samuel DuBose is facing a criminal hearing (as well as those involved with Freddie Gray’s death), and the officer who shot and killed Christian Taylor is currently on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. I’m sure they would do things different in hindsight.

As a black man, the last year has been surreal and scary. It’s also been a source of frustration and anger to constantly hear the immediate jump to justifications that some my white friends and colleagues respond with when these issues emerge. It’s scary because every time I’ve been stopped by a police officer, I have feared for my life, and have experienced unnecessary hostilities. When I see video of a dreadlocked Samuel DuBose shot and killed after being stopped for nothing, I see myself.

And regardless of how close your appearance is or isn’t from his, Jesus Christ reminds us in the Good Samaritan story that Samuel DuBose was our neighbor, and so was Mike Brown.

I recommend three steps to help us move toward healing and progress. This list is especially for those in the majority culture who may feel ambivalent about the facts of the cases.

1. We should grieve the loss of life. Mike Brown had just graduated high school. Isn’t it a tragedy that instead of being dropped off for his sophomore year in college, his parents are visiting his grave site this month? An overly simplistic perspective says: “If I’m not sure the officer did anything wrong, then I can’t take the dead person’s side and not side with law enforcement.” Real life is not that simple.Let’s say a number of toddlers died while playing with a toy alleged to have had manufacturing problems. A class action lawsuit is filed claiming the manufacturer was responsible for the deaths. Would we reserve compassion until we knew all the facts and could make a decision about who was really at fault? Wouldn’t it be troubling enough that toddlers died regardless of who was to blame? Imagine going up to the mother and father who loss a child and saying “Well, I can’t really empathize with you because the child may have used the toy incorrectly and caused her own death.” That’s the callousness and lack of empathy I have witnessed when these sad events have come up. We need to rediscover empathy. Take a moment and do that now. Just lament the losses of life.
2. Understand the context. There are structural inequalities that cause poorer people in this country to experience harsher consequences in the criminal justice system. We all know that acquiring “the best lawyer money can buy” has advantages that a court appointed attorney doesn’t.Think about that. Money drives our justice system. Additionally, the biases that emerge from a racialized society are clearly still a reality. Simply put white privilege is alive and well in the United States and that truth combined with the economic facts (almost 1 in 3 black people are in poverty compared with less than 1 in 10 white people) and you have scenarios, like those that played out over the last year repeatedly. There is still a unique fear of black men in the United States, and you can’t effectively “protect and serve” a community you are afraid of.
3. Be an advocate. Learn about the relationship between poverty, education, race and crime and do something. You have a choice to engage in this challenge. But if you want to show the compassion and justice that you would want others to have toward you then you have to simply do something. Let’s hope, pray and act so that the next 12 months will go by without the same tragedies as we experienced since August 9, 2014.