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.

I Don't Get Richard Sherman

I'll be honest.  I don't get Richard Sherman.  In case you've been living on Jupiter for the past week.  Here are his postgame interview after Sunday's win versus San Francisco.

Sherman went on to disgrace Crabtree in the postgame press conference, pointing out the term 'mediocre' again and again.  I get a lot about football, but I don't get this.  I kid my friends that I know the most about two things:  the Bible and football.  I spent five seasons in an SEC locker room.  Adrenaline is high in and after a game.  I'm glad all I've ever said on a field wasn't recorded.  But this was clearly pre-meditated as it was repeated in the press-conference and on twitter and even Monday morning.  And I don't get that.

I don't mind brashness and smack-talk.  I may or may not have been known to talk a little smack in church-league basketball.  I'm sorry, that's entirely inaccurate.  I talked a lot of smack.  It's not the dreads.  I've got a man-crush on Todd Gurley (Running Back for my Dawgs) and his dreadlocks.  And I would weep if Jarvis Jones cut his dreads.  I love Marshawn Lynch, Sherman's teammate.  It's not the cockiness.  I wore #2 in high school because of one player:  Prime Time -- Deion Sanders.  I loved his showmanship.  I like a good showman.  I loved Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, the two worst trash-talkers in NBA history.  Sports calls for a little bravado.  Football calls for the most.  And some of my favorite things about the NFL are touchdown and, more importantly, sack dances.  It's a sport.  It's supposed to be fun.  Richard Sherman isn't fun.  I think he's just a goober.  This wasn't his first run-in with the media.  He had a very awkward and mean-spirited conversation with Skip Bayless a year and a half ago on ESPN's First Take.  Now, Bayless can be annoying himself, but I just don't get it.

I trust if you're reading this you've read enough to know a little about Sherman.  He came from a tough neighborhood, but graduated 2nd in his class.  He went to Stanford and got his degree.  That's pretty much an equivalent of an Ivy League education.  Stanford is no joke.  They don't just give those degrees away.  Richard Sherman is probably smarter than you and me.  But he was not wise this past weekend.  There's such a big difference in book smarts and wisdom.  Sherman also volunteers in the community, going to speak at local schools and such.  Is that a great thing for a pro athlete to do?  Of course.  But that does not define one's character in totality.  Our words are also part of our character.  And what parent now wants Shermon to come speak at their kid's school?  The most important thing, for me, is the lessons to learn through this about ourselves.  Moreover, these are important lessons to teach our young people who play sports.

• No matter what neighborhood you're from, you don't have permission to be a jerk.  Just a hunch that Sherman's upbringing was tougher than mine.  Lots of people grow up in tough neighborhoods and are wonderful people.  Sherman has chosen this persona.  We all get to choose.
• Never pick a fight with the media.  The media always gets the last word and always wins.
• It's clear that cultural differences are persistent in America.  I'm a white dude, and I can't escape that.  I admit I don't understand everything about urban African-American culture, Hispanic culture, or Asian culture, or a thousand other cultures.  Heck, I don't understand women (But what man really does?).  But I don't think this was about "Oh, you just don't get black people."  After watching that, the African-American fathers I know would have said to their sons, "Don't you ever act like that."
• I'm disappointed people turned on Richard Sherman with racial slurs.  There's no place for it.  I want us to get by and through this as a country.  There is no race but the human race.  We are all made in God's image.  As I said, I think Sherman was just being a jerk, and those come in all shapes and sizes.  I'm so grateful to pastor a diverse church with people from many different backgrounds.
• I am grateful that Sherman has apologized and realized he made a mistake.  America has a large capacity to forgive, especially celebrities.  People make mistakes.  Sherman realized he took attention away from an historical game.
• I'm disappointed that in the seminal moment of his career, after making the biggest play he might ever make, he made this about him (and not his team) and turned it into an opportunity to lambaste an opposing player, who left it all on the field just like him.  This might be the biggest moment in Seattle sports, and it has turned into a Sherman-fest, for all the wrong reasons.  We're not talking about his play.  We're talking about his mouth.  Furthermoe, no matter what he said to Crabtree, you don't go over and slap the backside of an opponent in a moment like that.  There's too much raw emotion, and it's simply rubbing it in.  That was the take-away for me that has become clear the more I've thought about it.

You never bring honor to yourself by dishonoring others.

I don't know if Sherman is a Follower of Jesus.  For those of us who are or are considering it, this is a crucial lesson.  It is so easy to dishonor others.  I found it odd this all happened on MLK weekend.  This was not the way of Dr. King.  Dr. King simply 'got it' when it came to understanding how connected we are has humans.  In his book Stride Toward Freedom, King wrote, "Because men are brothers, if you harm me, you harm yourself...When I am commanded to love, I am commanded to restore community, to resist injustice, and to meet the needs of my brothers."  That is the way of Jesus.  By dishonoring Michael Crabtree, Richard Sherman brought dishonor to himself.  Richard Sherman might be on of the top two corners in the game today, but I contrasted his comments and postgame reaction with those of one of the top four or five cornerbacks of all time after the AFC Championship Game:

Champ Bailey.  First Ballot Hall of Fame Cornerback.  12 Pro Bowls.  7-time All Pro.  All gratitude.  All team.  All blessing.  All appreciation.  I had the pleasure of working for UGA Football when Champ was in college.  He was a quiet kid from a way-down-South Georgia community.  He has always been this gracious and humble.  Always.  But you hear an old sage from Champ Bailey now.  You hear 35 years-old.  Champ's body began to break down this year.  Age got to him.  He is no longer one of the best, but he's helping his team win.  Age has a way of humbling the greatest of athletes.  Richard Sherman is 25.  I suspect those ten years make a big difference.  They certainly did in my life.  I hope Sherman learns from this.  I hope the years offer him wisdom.  That wisdom, gratitude, and humility is the difference between being a Champ and a chump.