Black & Blue

I have spent this past week helping out with a camp of kindergarten through 3rd graders. It has been draining. But not as draining as the national news this week. It has been a week of contrasts. A week where my spotty cell phone service would tell me of another horrific shooting, followed by singing upbeat songs about Jesus. It has been a week where, everyday that I drove the kids to the pool, I passed a sign that said Blue Lives matter. The cogitative dissonance has been deafening. Our nation is tearing apart and we see the bruises. 

I have said before that I never intended to breach politics when I started this blog. What I am finding is that it is becoming harder and harder not to. I find that the things I believe a Christian should do so often change how I view the politics of any situation. So again today I am going to dance on that line.

I have no illusions that the major demographic of people that read my blog are white Americans. Weather you like it or not you are generally forced onto one side of this rift in our nation. You probably regularly hear words like "privilege" and "systemic racism." The later of these is not something I am going to try and explain in this blog. I will affirm that it does exist and that it is more than just discrimination.

Height Privilege 

What I want to talk about is privilege. This is something that I really didn't understand until seminary. I had heard it growing up and I always knew that I couldn't say certain things because I was white and male, but I never really understood why. I remember having a discussion with a female classmate who was shorter than me and she talked about how she always backed up when we conversed. I asked why and she said it was because I was taller than her. That puzzled me and she explained that I had height privilege. (Bear with me on this one.) She explained that when I got excited and loud, my height made it seem like I was angry with her. To demonstrate she took me to a set of stairs and had me stand below her. She then proceeded to have a normal conversation, but shout at me. It clicked.

Having gone to college for education I had been taught that when you talk to young kids you get down on your knees. You do this so you don't scare them. I had never made the connection that an adult could feel the same way. That is when I realized that I can have privilege even when I don't recognize it.

Just Stop Talking

Ok so what does this have to do with the shootings this week? Everything. White America, we need to stop talking. Like, seriously, we just need to stop. As a pastor I learned a little about grief counseling. One of the things I was taught was that when people are grieving they don't need your input. It doesn't matter if what happened was in God's plan. It doesn't matter if your theology is correct. Sometimes people just need to grieve. We need to think this way about these shootings.

I was reminded of this earlier today. I stepped into a conversation with someone who I didn't know very well. He made it very clear that my questions don't matter. That my comments don't matter. Why? Because I didn't even bother to stop and see that he was grieving.

White America we need to understand that there are entire populations of our country who fear the police with their life. We aren't even a generation removed from a time when police were used to subjugate an entire race of people. Rodney King happened less then three decades ago. This is what comes to mind people of color hear of police shootings. There is a cultural memory of fear of the police. This is something that I have never had. This is white privilege.

When we step in and try to explain that the issue might be more complicated than this we are seen as snubbing our noses at their pain. We are in essence telling them that their grief doesn't matter. This is not the way a Christian should live.

The Humility of Christ

Look, I know this feels scary. I am asking you to give up the right to have a voice. I get it. It doesn't seem right. But we serve a God who gave up infinitely more than that to love us. My entire blog is centered around understanding what it means that Jesus humbled himself; what it means that we should have that same attitude. In that passage Paul is asking the church in Philippi to have the same kind of humility. He is asking the church to be united. That is what our nation needs right now, unity.

Now, I want to make myself very clear, I am not saying that White America in any way can be the savior to people of color. If you think that by not talking you can somehow save those around you then you are mistaken. No one can save this nation but Jesus. What I am saying is that we need to be willing to humble ourselves like Jesus did. If we truly seek to follow him then simply listening is a small way we can live that out.

Riots and Retaliation

There are a small number of you who read this blog who probably have been nodding your head all along. This next part is for you. Our church cannot have unity if we encourage violence against another group. Just because you are angry at what has happened, does not mean that violence is the answer.

White America has a cultural memory of Rodney King as well. But what white america remembers is the LA Riots. Riots that I know stemmed from a cultural frustration at not being heard. Riots that spoke to the anger and the frustration that the system was not working. Riots that are more justifiable then your team winning the Superbowl.

Blue Lives

A friend of mine recently reached out to Law Enforcement Officers to ask about their take on these recent shootings. He withheld names, but shared with me some of what they said. In essence they said that they were trained to respond that way. They said that the reactions of people like Alton Sterling might be from fear as a result of systemic racism. But they also said in the heat of the moment that does not cross their mind. They said that they were concerned that if they didn't follow the book they would be going home in a body bag. Most telling, they said that every cop who fires his gun knows he is ruining his life. 

Their concern is understandable. Recent shootings at what started as a peaceful protest show this. This is not the first time that police have been murdered in what seems like a retaliation.

Does this make it right that two black men and five police are now dead? Certainly not. The death of anyone is something to be grieved. What I am saying is that just like people of color fear police, so white america fears retaliation. It is a cycle of violence that needs to stop. Nothing about it is pleasant.

Standing in Unity

As Christians we are all called to be united. United in grief when someone dies (whoever they are). United against injustice. United in bringing the Kingdom near. None of this can be achieved through violence. I am not just speaking of gun violence. I am speaking of the vitriol that plays out on Facebook. I am speaking about the violence we do when we don't stop and listen to someone who is grieving. I am talking about the violence that we do when we don't stand united.

I don't have all the answers to this problem. Honestly, I don't really feel like I have any. What I do know is that as a Christian I am called to seek life. I am called to stand for justice. I am called to stand for unity.

Tonight one of the churches in my community is having a vigil. I will attend. It doesn't feel like much, but I can't just speak about unity. I must be part of it. I encourage you to seek out unity in your own churches and communities. We need to stand united if we are going to do anything.

May you understand what It means to live in humility. May you understand that justice is not violence. May you stand united. And may God heal this land. 

Amen!