As the Church of the God who loves the world we cannot forget our lost brothers and sisters, victims and perpetrators alike: Lome Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Patrick Zamarippa, Brent Thompson, Micah Xaviar Johnson, Dallas, July 7, 2016; Philandro Castile, Falcoln Heights Minnesots, July 6, 2016; Alton Sterling, Baton Rouge, July 5, 2016; Clementa C. Pinckney, Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson, Cynthia Hurd, Daniel D. Simmons, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Twanza Sanders , Dylan Storm Roof, Charleston, South Carolina , June 17, 2015; Martin Luther King, James Earl Ray, Memphis, Tennessee, April 14, 1968; Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Washington D.C. , April 15, 1865. Never ever forget this is the tragic story of people-people with names and their mourning loved ones. The names go back for a 150 years; the violence, blood and tears lives in the dirt under our feet.
Racial prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping still exist all over the U.S. and within law enforcement in the U.S. Stereotyping smears an entire race or all police with the sins of a few. Discrimination judges one race differently than another; prejudice has already made up it’s mind before the person in front of us get’s a word out. People are devastated by such judgments. Violence begins inside these judgments.
The shots rang out at Fort Sumter, at Memphis, at Charleston and a thousand other neighborhoods long before the shots rang out in Dallas last week. The fault cannot be put at the feet of the Black Lives Matter peaceful protest or the Dallas Police officers there to do their duty. They are small parts of the wider, tragic story of sin, violence and racial hatred.
As a riled up Dale Hansen, a local sports reporter said, “The police are better than us.” They risk their lives in ways we would not. Hansen talked about being initially more riled up Thursday about the score of the Rangers game, 10-1 Minnesota, than the dead officers. I get that! I did not want my entertainment interrupted by more news of predictable violence in America. “Shame on me.”
I am in Canada and reading responses to “Dallas” from up here. Interestingly enough, Toronto’s Globe and Mail editorial this weekend framed the pubic meaning of “Dallas” as a part of “The story of the major U.S. city that has done more to end public racial discrimination and change the nature of its policing, to dramatically reduce the rates of police violence and targeting of minorities, and to create a genuine sense of harmony between the police force and black populations, a harmony that was visible before the bullets rained down. It is a model that other states in the United States and Canada could do well to emulate. “
The story of harmony between the Dallas Police Force and the black population is the story that must not change. Every other story will be a story of reacting to violence with more violence.
We are active, aggressive, ministers of the peace in a war zone. “He is our peace.” This declaration in Paul’s Ephesians letter means all races are one in Christ and are together in their local churches. Relationships across racial lines sensitize us to what it means to be black in America in 2016.
Rapper the Game who organized a march to LAPD headquarters on Friday with fellow Los Angeles native Snoop Dogg said, “I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I was saddened by what happened in Dallas. I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I was angered about what occurred in Minnesota and Louisiana and Fresno…The cops that died in Dallas weren’t the cops that shot and killed Philandro or Alton. As much as Philandro and Alton didn’t deserve that, those cops in Dallas didn’t deserve that. And the only thing I could think of was to initiate peace on both sides, so that’s why I’m here.”
Amen: initiating justice and peace on both sides is why we are here. We are called now to wage the peace in Dallas-in every conversation, every sermon and every institution!