What now?

News of two more tragic shootings have come across the wires, and we're all left wondering what now?  We often guard our thoughts very closely.  If we say what we think, what will our African-American friends think?  What will our white friends think?  What will our cop friends think?  Have we even considered what our Latino and Hispanic friends think?

We are outraged, incensed and left with many questions.  We are scared because we are a cop or have relatives who are cops.  Will they be wrongly lumped in with cops who made mistakes and targeted?  We are scared because we are black or have dear friends or relatives that are black.  Will they be wrongly lumped in with blacks who made mistakes and targeted?  We are scared that their are problems in our system.

Should I protest?  Should I speak out?  Should I buy a #blacklivesmatter T-shirt or "Blue Lives Matter" flag?  Should I post #alllivesmatter?  Does that make me insensitive?  Should I be worried for me, my family and my friends?  How did we get here?

The questions are paralyzing.  Personally, as a pastor and spiritual leader, it's a challenge.  I'm a very opinionated person, and I have strong feelings about numerous issues, but a lesson I've learned and am learning is to not get worked up about something about which I am unclear of the details and information.  So, the angle I come at this is different, as there is one thing about all that our nation is struggling about that deeply bothers me.

I was a Broadcast News major at UGA's Grady College of Journalism.  I'm proud to have attended one of the finest journalism schools in the country.  I received a call to ministry while in journalism school, but remained in the program.  The deeper I got into it, something began to disturb me about the news.  News isn't really about news.  News is about ratings, because ratings are about advertisers, and advertisers mean money.  Below is an article Newsweek did about people killed by cops each year, and, as you can see, it's very complicated.

http://www.newsweek.com/how-many-americans-do-cops-kill-each-year-480712


Statistics also show that more white people have been killed by police in the last year than African-Americans.  Did you know that?  However, based on population, a much higher percentage of African-Americans are killed by police.  Did you know that?  It's complex.

Let me ask you a question:  how many of those killings did you read about or see on TV.  Six?  Eight?  Maybe a dozen?  There are hundreds each year.  Here's the other problem.  How many did you see in person?  I saw zero, so every detail about anything I'm hearing is all 2nd hand, and with 2nd hand details sometimes (not all of the time) come with biases or agendas, depending on who is sharing the story.  News agencies are not interested in sharing details about all of those killings because not all of them would drive ratings.  I know, I know.  I don't want this to be true. It's true.

I don't mean this as a slight to news agencies or executives.  This is the business.  It's not to get all the news out, it's to get all the news out that we believe people need to see, want to see or would be interested in.  And there's only so much time in the show or space on the page or room on the website. The problem is that leaves out a great deal of the story.  And, frankly, we're all a little to gullible to believe everything we read and hear is accurate.

The other problem, here, is that even if it is newsworthy, none or few of us now the details.  We weren't there.  Even videos don't always tell the whole story.  They come from one angle with a few minutes of the action.  Sometimes they are incriminating.  Sometimes they only give us another view into a very complex situation.  In college, I was once accused incorrectly of a crime that I was nowhere near because I looked like the suspect.  Civilians are wrongly accused of carrying weapons and killed.  Cops are wrongly accused of racism and ostracized.  Both happen.  Cops (otherwise known as humans) are also sometimes prone to sin (because humans are) and fall prey to racism or vengeance and kill innocent people.  African-Americans (also known as humans) are also sometimes sin (because humans do) and provoke violence on themselves through the threat of violence toward law enforcement.  White people do the same thing.  And black cops do the same thing.

What I also don't know is how many dangerous people were killed by cops that saved the lives of many other innocent people, maybe even my family.  What I also don't know is how I would react if I were bullied by belligerent police officers.  What I also don't know is how I would feel if I were African-American?  And what I also don't know is how I would feel if I were a cop?

So what now?  I would encourage you to think very broadly about these issues.  There is a problem because it is clear our sensitivity level goes through the roof on these topics.  But we must be diligent to listen to all the voices and hear the pain of our brothers and sisters from all races and walks of life. Most importantly, fix what you can fix.  The issues are so large in scope, they seem impossible to tackle.  But I can teach my children to see the world the way Christs sees the world.  I can teach my children to respect law enforcement and do that myself.  I can teach my children to be mindful of the horrible history of racism even in our own country and teach them to love all while I practice that myself.  I get to control me.  And I don't have think any way about any race or any profession or any person other than the way I choose to think.  God gave me that freedom.  Skin tones and badges will never affect the way I see a person because I choose to see God's children as God's children.  I'm all for policies, investigations when wrong-doing is suspected, and addressing hurtful and sinful corporate mindsets.  Policies are sometimes needed, but this world will be changed only by people doing right, living right and standing for right in their families and circles of friends.  Maybe it will take a generation.  Maybe it won't if we decided that's the 'what' we should do now.

Hope for the Hurt

This past week, I had the honor of praying at a Candlelight Vigil for those from Gwinnett County that had been murdered in the last year.  It was sponsored by the District Attorney's Office of Gwinnett County.  We prayed, sang songs, lit candles, reflected and read the names of every murder victim from the last year.  There were too many names.  One is too many.  People from all walks of life and every nationality gathered in remembrance.  Past victim's families also gathered, as they have become a part of this make-shift yearly congregation of hurt and loss.  I asked myself a question as I left, "Why do we hurt each other?"  How could that many people be murdered in the last 11-12 months in my county?  Why are we killing each other?

The events in Ferguson and the death and anger over Eric Garner continue to raise difficult issues.  I would not begin to understand the emotions, evidence and politics behind it all.  I grew up white in the deep South.  Those are the only shoes I've ever walked in, and the only experience from which I can speak.  I'm not an attorney and wouldn't dare to dive into legal issues I don't understand.  But I know this:  we've got to stop hurting each other.

A couple of months ago I flew out to a conference, and I was struck by a sense of despair as I prepared to put my shoes, everything I had on me and my belt in the X-ray machine.  My shoes.  We are now afraid of my canvas crocs.  We don't trust each other.  We are afraid that if we trust others, we will get hurt.  So, we choose to not trust and when when there is one step past the imaginary line we have drawn, we hurt others to protect ourselves.

We do this emotionally and spiritually, and in recent tragic cases, we do so physically.  A teenager is dead because of a lack of trust.  Maybe it was well-founded.  Maybe it was completely unfounded.  Rioters have taken to the streets to inflict hurt because they lack trust in authorities.  The natural order of our DNA is to hurt others if we fear getting hurt.  I'll bet you know someone who does this with their heart and tongue.

But, Jesus gave a different kinds of commands, "Love one another as I have loved you" and "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Don't protect yourself from hurt -- love!  The thing about love (and you learned this at 13 with your first 'steady') is that if you love and trust, you can get hurt.  But it's the only way.  I don't now all the answers to stopping crime.  I don't know the answers we're all seeking in race relations.  I don't know the issues to fix our legal system.  I do know the answer the world needs, though.  We have to show radical love.  I have to believe we live in a world hungry for it.  And I have to believe that if the Church would do as our Lord commanded us to do in our communities around the world, that people might want to know where that love comes from.  And we might get the opportunity to tell them that it's not a 'where' but a 'who' that is the source of our love.  Love someone.  Trust someone.  Risk for love.  If you follow Christ, this is the only way.