No Indictment, No Surprise

As an African American, there is no way that I cannot perceive the story of Michael Brown and Ferguson, Missouri outside of the lens of American History. Though some would compel us to separate the past from the present, that would simply be neglect. We cannot, as Americans, so easily separate ourselves from the traumatic memories handed down to us by centuries of racial injustice. Even if there was an indictment, could we have expected a conviction of any kind with the murder of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman still in our purview? Ferguson proved nothing. It told us nothing that we did not already know. It defied no expectation we had/have of what justice looks like historically in these United States. A country where slavery, based on a system that said that black people were less than human, was condoned and practiced by our founding fathers and undergirded by our founding documents. A country where emancipation gave birth to Jim Crow; and subsequently -by some estimates- thirty-three hundred lynchings in the decades between the end of Reconstruction and the civil-rights era. A country where Jim Crow's back was broken, not by the many American citizens (black and white) who fought against injustice, but by the critique of those abroad who were watching America's brutality against the backdrop of the Cold War. A country where desegregation gave birth to uneven prison sentencing, entrenched multigenerational poverty and grossly unequal education systems. A country where -as a 6ft, 200lb black man- I know I need to be conscious of the assumptions people make about who and what I am. A country, where I know I need to teach my children that no matter how much you understand your value and self-worth; no matter how intelligent you are; no matter how successful you are; your blackness will cause people to make judgments about you that will be inconsistent with who you are. It is also, my country, my home, and a place of hope and promise for my children. That is why I must be dissatisfied with the Ferguson Grand Jury’s failure to indict. I don't care what side you stand on, this is not justice. You don't want to live in a world where a police officer has the authority to gun you or your children down in the street. Someone asked me what we can do as a church. My response: “What we can do as a church is to take a position against the conditions within our own communities that begat violence of any kind; take steps to educate ourselves about what resources are available to combat those conditions; and get about the business of being change agents.” What we can do as citizens is to encourage dialogue with the politicians and law enforcement officials sworn to govern and protect our communities, and let our voices be heard that they may transform the culture that leads to theses kinds of inexplicable acts.