Policing and Race

           

            My grandson wants to be a policeman.  He has wanted this for a long time.  He found a course of study in his high school that taught the students how to do police work and he excelled in it.  Since then, he has tried to find jobs as a security guard until the time would come for him to join a real police department.  He is a good kid.  We have always loved him and he shows to me every indication that a career as a police officer would be an excellent choice for him.

            On the sides of police cars all over the country are the words  To Protect and Serve. Those words are an attempt to convey the mission of the police force to the community.  The idea is to be a force that keeps order in our towns and  protects  the citizens  from any threat.  I think that in the last decade or so, this excellent mission has been somewhat compromised by the increase in force given to our police and by the inherent racism that also exists in our society.  This was never intentional.  The increase in force started with the STAT teams who began to arm themselves and to behave as military forces.  They were equipped by surplus defense department equipment.  There is hardly a big city police department that doesn’t have STAT teams and several armored cars or other pieces of large style military equipment.

             The racist streak that permeates all of our society comes with a long history.  We enslaved African Americans from the start in this nation.  Their economic value was seen early in the South as plantations grew up, raised their crops and used slaves as their workers.  The Civil War brought an end to some of the effects of slavery, but the practice continued long after the war and is still with us today.  African Americans serve frequently in lower paying jobs and live in parts of our cities that white people don’t often frequent.  It isn’t hard to find examples of this; every city has its ghettos. 

            This has produced an “us and them” mindset in our culture.  When the Black Lives Matter movement started, many white people didn’t quite understand what was being said.  The counter argument: All Lives Matter was certainly true, but missed the point.  The problem was that African American people felt that they were often targeted by police because of their race.  Ferguson, Missouri was the beginning of an understanding that there was something terribly wrong with the way that police officers were approaching people of color.  The killing of Michael Brown in that community by officer Darren Wilson triggered a protest that was felt all over the country.  Subsequently the white police officer involved in that killing was exonerated, which brought more protests.  This has happened over and over again in our culture.  Whenever there is a police shooting of an African American, there is a protest, followed by an exoneration; recently, this predictable protesting grew into horror after two police killings in two nights in Baton Rouge and in St. Paul provided an excuse for a former army veteran to kill five police officers and to wound a number of others in Dallas, Texas who at that time were supervising a Black Lives Matter protest.  These three horrible events need to be clearly seen as an indictment of all of us for the way that we act toward one another.  We need desperately to find a way to help our police and our citizens of whatever race to get along and to see the “Protect and Serve” words as truly meaningful for everyone in our communities.

            I was impressed by the way that the Pittsburgh Police department accompanied those who were protesting in the streets of this city.  There was no animosity, only a spirit of protection for those involved in the parade and the protest.  That is a model that ought to be held up for all of us in this society as a way for our police departments to act out their mission. Certainly, this is what the Dallas police were trying to do.

            My hope is that my grandson will be able to enter a police department where those words Protect and Serve are deeply meaningful to the members of his team.  They are wonderful words and mean a great deal to our society.  We certainly need protection and we need competent police to serve us with their skills. 

What do we do about Orlando?

           

             When I think about what went on in Orlando, those words from Galatians come to mind:  There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; all are one in Christ Jesus.  I’m sure if he lived in this time, Paul might have added straight or gay and black or white  to that list.  The point of all of it is to take the things that divide us, the categories that we are locked into and make them irrelevant.  All of us are one in Christ Jesus.  That is the point of what Paul is talking about.

            We have spent this week worrying about our divisions.  Are we being besieged by Muslim terrorists?  Is it all right to have gay bars in our cities?  How can we keep our people safe when there is so much worry about what separates us from each other?  There have been renewed calls for gun legislation, which is unlikely to happen.  There has been political finger pointing about who is responsible for all of this.  None of it has been at all helpful.  We still have our divisions and we still have all of the hatred lying out there waiting for an opportunity to make itself known.  What we need to understand is that it isn’t a Muslim insurrection that is causing all of this; it is our inability to accept and understand the ways that we are divided and to minister to the divisions in the same way that we care for everyone else.

            When I served as the interim rector of St. James parish in Charleston, WV for almost two years about fifteen years ago, I found myself at the head of a primarily African American parish that had more people with doctorates than any parish where I have ever served.  These were also people who cared very much about their community and who were all involved in programs that had to do with the welfare of people beyond their walls.  I was deeply impressed with the energy that this congregation put forth as a result of their faith and their determination that everyone in the community mattered to them.  They taught me a lot about the way that community matters to all of us and how essential it is that we take part in doing what we can to improve the lives of everyone in it.  Atonement reminds me of St. James.  You now have a nine week program to provide lunches for the young students next door.  This is what community means.

            In Paul’s time, there were incredible divisions in his community.  There were religious arguments, great fear of the Romans who governed the whole of the country.  There were even divisions among the Christians.  Whether Paul was accepted as one of Jesus’ apostles was up for grabs.  That question was never adequately settled.  Paul became the foremost ambassador of the message of Jesus, even though he never met him.  His insights to the Galatians about our divisions are very helpful when we consider what needs to be done in our own age to bring us together and minimize the things that separate us.

            So what do we do about it?  There have been many gatherings of people to pray for the people of Orlando and what they have experienced; I have seen many postings on Facebook and in my mail from people lamenting this horrible deed.  Blood drives have produced many pints of blood that has been made available to those working with the injured in Orlando.  We are reacting as we always do to tragic events of this nature, and all of it is very helpful.   Our legislators need to act and to find some unity in what they do.  This needs to happen as quickly as possible to avoid any more tragedies.

            Above all, we all need to keep this nation and the people who have suffered loss in our prayers.  Do that faithfully every day.  When Elijah went south to avoid the wrath of Jezebel, he found himself in a cave on Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.  He called out to God to speak to him.  There was a terrible wind, but God was not in the wind; there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake; there was a large fire, but God was not in the fire.  Then Elijah heard what has been called a still small voice.  It was God speaking comfort to Elijah.  God didn’t tell him to stop and hide; he told him to return to his work and to head for the wilderness of Damascus where he can be of some use.

            I think that is how God speaks to us; in a still, small voice, a voice of comfort and help in our times of distress.  Listen for that voice and do what it says.  Keep your prayers strong and keep those who have suffered in your hearts and minds.  It will make an incredible difference. Love and comfort are what God requires of us.  It is how we overcome our divisions and repair what has been so tragically done.