Random Insights from Facebook

These are insights that I have previously shared on Facebook, particularly centered around the Bible and justice.

March 26, 2017: The more I read the Bible in context the less I find a complementarian view of church leadership as the actual intent of God. Women are equal and capable to lead. A woman's voice saved many an idiot. The church will never be at its fullness until we recognize that God calls regardless.

March 10, 2017: In reading the Bible from cover to cover for Lent, I have reached a challenging conclusion about Christian Trump supporters.

They are like Jephthah, a very righteous and courageous judge of Israel. He was the son of a prostitute and he was elevated to be a warrior and a judge. He contended with the Ammonites for years and prayed to God about success. Instead of waiting for God, he vowed that in exchange for definitive success he would sacrifice as a blood offering the first thing that exited the door of his home. His only, virgin daughter was the first thing out of his door. His daughter heard his vow and begged him to let her grieve her virginity (but really her future). After two months, he sacrificed his daughter (the Bible is surprisingly nuanced, yet specific here). His reign was short and turbulent thereafter.

So, what does this mean? We cannot exchange long-term success for short-term gratification. This is what happened in November and we are living in the consequences of a dangerous vow. Often we frame our decisions merely by the bulk of their apparent sinfulness, when in reality, the sin lies in the clear refusal to see God in the consequences, to the point of using God to deny reality and thereby justify our choices.

(Judges 11-12)

February 9, 2016: 

Three sermons that I am in process of writing because God won't let me ignore them:

The Foundation of the Gospel Demands a Response: John 3 and 4

Justice and the Gospel (Why Justice Matters): Amos 5; Micah 6:8; Isaiah 58:5-14

The Gospel and Justice (Why the Gospel and Reconciliation Matters): 1st Peter 2:1-10; Revelation 7:9-17.

I have no idea when or if I will ever get to share them, but I am going to write them anyway.

Also, for Lent, I am taking up a challenge to read through the Bible in 40 days. If you wanna join up give me a holla. Blessings.

September 17, 2017: 

There are many myths about Christian Persecution in America. But, the one that gets my goat the most is: (Drumroll please) They took prayer out of schools.

I studied hundreds of First Amendment cases in my time in law school. None of them said you could not pray in school. What it does say is that the State should not be in the business of forcing students to recite a prewritten prayer led by their teacher. (Engel v. Vitale). This never stopped individual students from praying (Teachers are more complicated, I know, because of the dual nature of being an individual and a voice of the State).

I wrote the following nearly 5 years ago following the horrific responses of Christian leaders regarding Sandy Hook. It seems relevant now:

"I have had enough!! To these ignorant evangelical megalomaniacs: As a young Christian and an evangelical, theological mutt I am tired of the fake victimization from Western church leaders in power. It is absurd in the light of true persecution around the world. What do we give up in this country for our faith!? I have not had to give up that much and that I have had to, honestly, really was not worth my time. So, we are persecuted in America because we are called out when we are ignorant and unyielding.

I stand for righteousness, but I stand for and in love. My righteousness in Christ means nothing without love. Check the Gospel backwards and forwards. The Pharisees ticked Jesus off with their inability to operate in love. Empty religiosity and arrogant pomposity that ignored fleecing the poor in the very temple courts!! So Pat Robertson, Mike Huckabee, et al all of you that have lost touch with the heartbeat of the gospel, I plead with you, "Wake up and Study to be quiet!!" Prayer before speaking and wisdom and awareness are vital. We can't get away with continually speaking out of turn. Wear the mantle of a prophet, speak as a prophet but live and work like Christ. Kids did not die because we forgot God in schools, kids died for we forgot God in our homes we gloss over the least of these. So my message to you my brothers and sisters, let's be more Christ-like. Be blessed FB!!"

September 04, 2016: 

The Western (ultra-conservative) Church gets a lot wrong when comes to public life. Consequences that come from your behavior are generally not persecution. Persecution is strife that comes because of your faith or some other characteristic.

With that being said as a passionate Christian, that loves the Bible and loves even the hard sayings. I am disgusted by Kim Davis's behavior (and others). Her argument that issuing a marriage license (a core responsibility as the elected county clerk) to a homosexual couple violates her faith. When did the Bible ever say that the behavior of others dictated your salvation? The Bible does say to work out your own salvation. The Bible does say to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. Her behavior smacks of religious insecurity. You took an oath to stamp the seal of the county of Rowan, Kentucky. If you had the true courage of your convictions you resign and you pray for the next step. Religious freedom does not mean one religion gets to dictate over others. To the contrary, to be Christ-like we serve those not like us and speak the truth in love.

My final soapbox point, wouldn't it be wonderful if the church divested from bad politics and invested in service? Demonstrated that pro-life extends far beyond gestation. That we stop majoring in the minor things and minoring in the major things. We care about souls. We care about the gift of salvation that is freely given to all that receives. God is less concerned about the state you come to him, but that you come.

October 21, 2012: 

Putting on a prophetic cap: If Christians cease to be the voice of the voiceless and the active hand of God in the world. What good are we? We are reduced to being the "crazies" that people think we are. We become the Pharisees, yeast-laden with religion but no true relationship. I read (and subsequently posted) a CNN blog about to some Christians President Obama is the "wrong" type of Christian. Begs the question what is the wrong type of Christian. I don't have an answer but I believe Christ and the Bible lays out a good model for the life of a Christian: Love God with all you are and Love your neighbor as yourself. "Truly he has shown you oh man what is Good: that you do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God". If we lose sight of that we are nothing more than a social club. Be blessed FB!

MLK Day in the Midst of the Age of Trump

King is more than a dream.

I sit here to write this forgetting that in my flurry of inspiration a couple of years ago, I had already written this piece about #ReclaimMLK (http://letterstoyoungworshippers.blogspot.com/2016/01/reflection-on-dr-king-in-era-of-post.html).

Dr. King, Jr. received his holiday fourteen years after his death and now thirty-two years ago. (We share a birth year in a way). I was furious back in 2016 (our last year with the first black president, even though I did not want to accept that fact). I was furious for so many valid reasons (Flint, Michigan still doesn’t have water and more officers have been acquitted or escaped charges.) I am still pissed about all those things. But, I am writing this the evening after our so-called president, 45, decided to call Haiti, African and African-Caribbean countries, “sh*tholes”. There is no more infuriating irony of this president, that he reveals his racism and racist political perspectives before key moments of black remembrance (see his comments about Frederick Douglass), the damn inescapable fact that 45 is going to stand and lay claim to the dream of King. He's going to lay his grubby, "sh*thole" hands on King's legacy. But, not only him, senators, representatives, governors, mayors, DA's are going to join in this bastard's chorus about the dream of King as they work to undermine black people's progress (But see, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-alford-kansas-marijuana-black-people_us_5a53e133e4b01e1a4b18a12b?section=us_black-voices).

I want our King back!! You can't claim Martin or Fannie Lou or Rosa or Ella or Billie or none of them until you see us as fully human and fully American!!

The third Monday of January, we set about remembering Dr. King, the drum major of a movement. But, let me tell you this, King was not the only one in the band for justice. He stood on the shoulders of a long legacy of men and women who bled, cried, died, were kidnapped, bombed, broken, beaten, sprayed with water hoses, lynched and so much more. King’s shadow is long and broad. His blood still cries out from the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis and still shakes the mantle of time nearly fifty years.

So, what do I have to say now? I am glad you asked. First, if you support the theology of Trump (looking at you all you charlatans of the gospel), you do not get to hold the legacy of MLK. If you support a theology that doesn't demand your own death to self for the cause of justice you CANNOT touch the legacy of MLK and our ancestors. This bodes the question, “What am I willing to do in this era to move the dream forward?” My answer is this, I am committed to radical compassion. Compassion places a target on your back because you are willing to take the hit for someone else. It is deeper than empathy...it is letting your heart break for someone else and then stepping up to do something.

King said it this way, “I choose to identify (yes, King had a choice—he was middle-class as a child) with the underprivileged, I choose to identify with the poor, I choose to give my life of the hungry, I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity. […] This is the way I’m going. If it means suffering a little bit, I’m going that way. If it means sacrificing, I’m going that way. If it means dying for them, I’m going that way, because I heard a voice saying, “Do something for others.”

Second, I am committed the work. I am committed to digging into the chaos to fight of justice. I am committed to consolidating political power of black people and other people of color. I am committed to coalition building. Practically, from using the explosive event of the Black Panther premiere to register people to vote to elevate fresh and new candidates. This is the best birthday gift I can give to King on his 89^th birthday. I am on the quest for justice and righteousness and “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired.”

I am going to close with the words of Paul (2^nd Corinthians 4:7-18):

⁷ Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power^g may be from God and not from us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; ⁹ we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry the death of Jesus^h in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to deathⁱ for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. ¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,^B,j we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴ For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus^k and present us with you. ¹⁵ Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving^l to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not give up.^m Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner personⁿ is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction^o is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.^p 18 So we do not focus on what is seen,^q but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Don’t give up, Don’t give in, Don’t stop dreaming the dream, your dream.

Ernest

Watching Star Trek Beyond with Gavin and Micah

Introduction

Look, I did not go to the theater last Thursday (July 28, 2016) with Gavin Long and Micah Johnson, nor did I intend to think about them or the past few weeks while watching this movie on Thursday. But, I heard the voice of Idris Elba, as the villain Krall (Spoiler: not his real name, but what he became) say during the climatic fight with Chris Pine's Captain Kirk, "I am a soldier and this was not the world I was born into." Micah and Gavin were both soldiers and both experienced racism within a world that largely ignores it...willfully. 

Disclaimer

Let me make myself abundantly clear: THIS BLOG IS AN ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND AND LEARN FROM THE ACTS OF VIOLENCE PERPETRATED BY GAVIN LONG AND MICAH JOHNSON AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS. I AM NOT JUSTIFYING VIOLENCE. I REPEAT, I AM NOT JUSTIFYING VIOLENCE. Additionally, Gavin Long and Micah Johnson were not cowards (sorry to disagree with the President and the standing media narrative). To the contrary, they left war at home to fight a war abroad and came back to communities that continued to be at war with the very systems that are designed to protect and serve them. Thus, it behooves us to stop, look, listen to what they had to say to us in death because something is clearly wrong and what we are doing is not working. 

With that being said, in the midst of preparing for the bar, I could not truly avoid the chaos of just a few short weeks ago. In a span of fewer than 60 hours, we had two black men (Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Philando Castile of Minneapolis, Minnesota) get shot by police officers, both of their deaths were documented on social media and an assault on police officers in Dallas during a peaceful Black Lives Matter Rally followed on the heels by an ambush of officers in Baton Rogue. There were heavy losses on both sides (if there are truly sides in the pursuit of justice). 

What is striking, is that both of the attacks on police were planned and executed by former, decorated members of the United States Military. Micah Johnson was a highly capable soldier, who from the little we know about him, just wanted to see changes in his community. He wanted to contribute positively to his community and that drove him to join the military. Gavin Long may have possessed some afro-centric views but he served his country in the military. But, what happened? What drove them to systematically ambush and attack police officers assigned to do security for a BLM rally? Where there were clear congeniality and community between the protestors and the officers. They were not even protesting the Dallas Police Department, to some has become the model of policing. They were marching in solidarity with other communities in the area. These questions I do not have  answers to directly, but I want to explore this area of Why.

Mistrust is the Name of the Game

As I have stated before, this is not about justifying violence or that somehow I don't care about police officers or the difficult job they do. But, the reality is that many communities do not trust the police, particularly communities of color. These communities, have seen and felt how the system has protected bad officers and has turned deference to a blue wall of silence. 

We know that neither Baton Rogue nor Minneapolis will seek justice for Alton Sterling and Philando Castile to the same degree they pursued Micah and Gavin. Proven by the actions of the Dallas and Baton Rogue police departments to exact justice (more likely vengeance) swiftly on Gavin and Micah. The Dallas police beat its chest proudly that they used a bomb disposal robot loaded with explosives to kill Micah who was in a house (the police admit that they were not even sure if he was alone).  This does not engender trust. It drives home the point that police departments should not get new toys to "eliminate" or "neutralize" threats until they use the tools they have to gain the trust of their communities. Police departments around the country have harbored bad actors and praised beating suspects, killing assailants, destroying lives as good police work in their "Wars on Drugs and Crime." In the process, there are shattered lives in their wake.

Trust Needs to Become Systemic

So before Dallas PD can declare publically that they are hiring and to trade the protest for a bulletproof vest: They need to lay all the cards on the table. Continue to seek community focused changes. Every police department and District Attorney's office must reject the premise that they can investigate themselves in the midst of crisis. Every police involved shooting needs to be independently investigated. Community investment needs to be more than ice cream at traffic stops. It needs to be echoed in what becomes reasonable articulable suspicion in a Terry stop. The humanity of black lives needs to be acknowledged in the heat of the moment and in the moments after. Yes, the world is dangerous. Yes, criminals want to harm cops at times. But, I refuse to assume every situation is that. Alton Sterling selling CD's in front of a friend's store like he's done for years was not that. Philando Castile complying with police was not that. Nor was the long litany...of names. 

Just as racism has become systemic, we must make trust systemic and rejection of tired racial stereotypes that mean absolution for one race and death for another. Gavin and Micah were crying for that...even though they did terrible acts of violence. But, their unique service to this country demands that we look at this matter broadly and intentionally. Recognize that our insistence that masculinity mean never showing our brokenness. That our collective prioritization of independence has created a society in which mental illness is now a criminal offense and can only be treated in jail or in prison. That our divestment in our communities...are chickens coming home to roost. We paid for this...and we must do and be better. For every fallen officer, fallen person to violence demands it. Their blood is crying out.

Reflection on Dr. King in the Era of Post-Racialism

Dr. King died eighteen years before I was born. My mother was seventeen when he was murdered. Now I sit at my computer on the thirtieth anniversary of the declaration of his federal holiday, in deep conflict about the legacy of the movement.
My conflict is rooted in angst about the willingness to be satisfied with a myth of equality. That it appears that much of the "gains" made in the Civil Rights Movement are being traded for oligarchical shortsighted efforts. That hell, there are two cities in the US in the same state being poisoned intentionally for no real apparent reason. That the prison industrial complex has tripled since 1970. That young black men and women are dying without justice at the hands of bad policing and a justice system designed against them. That success for people of color does not mean that the needle has moved on meter of justice. The scales remain out of balance. So I am not happy or satisfied. I refuse to believe that King's Dream is anyways close to being fulfilled. (The dream was bigger than hypothetical equality. The hypothetical cannot be achieved without the practical. The practical in the eyes of Dr. King was rooted in the economy and in justice. That post-slavery dismissal from the economy only served to empower Jim Crow.)
Many people reduce the legacy of Dr. King to a sermonic tag at the end of the keynote of the March on Washington in 1963. They connect with him saying, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. […] And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" This promotion of the “dream of Dr. King” generally ignores the actual thrust of Dr. King’s Speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The March challenged the role of racism in increased levels of unemployment among Black Americans and the poor. The language of the speech is a harsh and unyielding critique of racism in America. Failing to acknowledge the righteous anger and frustration that those who are oppressed remains a major critique of even the most positive and well-intentioned forms of colorblindness.

So this leaves us to why there is a need to #ReclaimMLK. Unlike Malcolm X or Marcus Garvey, King's message was open for everyone. That in King's vision race is only a factor in the systemic inequity that is America. That it could be claimed by anyone who can perceive to be marginalized. But, you cannot claim marginalization and be part of the perpetuation of marginalization. You cannot claim King and sit on the sidelines and reject the complexity of his legacy. King called America to deeper depths. He challenged our religiosity. He pushed those who sat in judgment to actually practice empathy. We need that same voice now. We need voices pushing the church forward in justice. To reject the overrated nature of social media and viral presence. This what the legacy of Dr. King has to be in this era. That he called Blacks and Whites to the mat.

First, in order to survive this pseudo-post-racial world, the disenfranchised must know who they are. This is not just about cultural acceptance, but knowing where they stand in this society. It is about knowing the rules of the game. The paradigm in the colorblind world is both static and a moving target. It is static because those standing frameworks of identity remain. But, it is a moving target because success can be attained (for a price). The narrative of racism in America is not binary and is very complicated. Knowing this fact, one can maintain hope. Second, despite the barriers, despite the apparent increasing dangers, the bank of justice is not empty. There has been a legacy of fighting for freedom and justice. The context is that as Dr. King said in 1963, the founding creeds of this nation were a "check marked insufficient funds".

Dr. King, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, countless others believed firmly that the bank of justice is not empty and will not give up fighting for rights that belong to me and my legacy. This country's tenuous relationship with race and poverty chains it to the past. 

This state of awareness is what Touré describes as “post-blackness. Post-blackness shifts the focus from a fight for retribution for past harms to obtaining seats at the table of power. He closes his book, Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? with these words: “We don’t gain from rejecting America before it rejects us and from shunning voting and education. We progress by getting as much education as we can and launching ourselves into corporations and entrepreneurialism and politics and finance and real estate. We need more and more Blacks sitting at tables of real power. Let’s be like Barack. Let’s get what we want from America in spite of racism. Let’s buy into the promise of America and get what we deserve. Let’s come home. You can fight the power, but I want us to be the power.^”

Progressing up the ladders of success in multiple areas that are stereotypically outside of the reach of minorities is the proper attack against color-blind racism. The pain that we will endure will be very real, but it alone cannot be the sole focus. The cry for retribution has appeared to fall on increasingly deaf ears, so we need to gather political capital to change the system.

It needs to be noted as I close, that just as power has continually adapted throughout history to maintain its control, power will try to reject and marginalize the mobilization of resources. As we continue to speak the truth about racism and racial harm, powers response will often to revert to name calling and misdirection. It must be remembered that color-blind racism is built on a myth, “the idea that race has all but disappeared as a factor shaping the life chances of all Americans. This myth is the central column supporting the house of color blindness. Remove this column and the house will collapse. (Racism Without Racists, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva)^” The truth of the matter remains that colorblindness unchecked is as dangerous as the emperor with no clothes. Just as the young boy that exclaimed the truth; the most powerful tool that we have to contend in this crazy world is the truth.

May the King Live Forever!! Blessings!!

Ernest

Why I Still Believe...

I was going to invest a series of in attacking the injustice in the world, but I have been in numerous conversations with intellectuals and activists that demand an answer about my faith. There questions and probing and ultimate attempts at proselytizing me to turn my back on my faith and the hope of glory. 

The trend among young intellectuals is to reject a faith that does not include the marginalize. I echo many of their concerns with the direction of the church in the western world. The church that is so distracted and dysfunctional that it has exchanged its call to love for anger and hatred; righteousness for being right; spiritual warfare for blind allegiance to earthly government. I am well aware of the ignorance that the church has fallen in love with. Majoring severely in the minor things and missing every opportunity to learn and serve and lead the world to the Savior. To my young activists of color, I know Christianity's link to the vileness of the empire runs deep. That they have justified the enslavement of our ancestors and justified the raping and pillaging of multiple continents through the lens of Christianity. I know the violence of the empire is undeniable and I know the legacy of Christianity walking hand in hand with the violence. As a black male, the burning crosses are singed in my psyche. The rationalizing of hatred of difference races or gays and lesbians...has been laid at the feet of idea of faith.

My response to all of it, I believe in Christ, I believe the Bible as the Word of God, because the more I study it--the more I am challenged and pushed to grow. My relationship with the Bible and with people who call themselves Christian has been hard and complex. Just an example of my angst posted after the Charleston Tragedy:

So, I have been quiet...I have prayed and cried and prayed and cried and know now that I cannot be silent anymore. America...doing what you have always done and expecting different results is insulting and the very definition of insanity. Safety is not my concern. I have always known...I will always know that I am not safe. I am not safe to be black, Christian, filled with hope, sobered by reality, heartbroken for this world. I know that I am not safe and what I am called to do is ultimately dangerous, but I choose to not live in fear. I said in the past, "I am tired...I am so tired. I am tired of the message on repeat that my life does not matter. I am tired of feeling like a stranger in a strange land in my own home. My anger has boiled over to just exhaustion. I am tired. I am tired of not being able to explain my hurt without being called foolish or a race baiter or divisive. Dammit I am distraught...and there seems to be no relief." I am still tired, I am still broken, I am still gobsmacked by what happened in Charleston. I do not believe that the perpetrator was a mere sycophant, a mere mentally ill man. This young man was cold, calculated and planned his attack and thus is a symptom of white supremacy. White supremacy believes that their position is constantly under attack. But, it is only under attack because it continues to choose to abuse those that don't look like it. It is toxic and is bred in too many young men and women (He was 20). This supremacy refuses to believe that there is noone else but it in the world. But here is the problem...Here is the real tragedy of it all. How many times can we/you see violence, experience injustice, taste the bitter pill of tragedy until we make change!? How much more? Oh...I used to not know the answer...but the answer is inescapable. We will continue eat tragedy for breakfast with our morning coffee. Devour pain and anguish with a racist, classist, homophobic glaze for lunch. Serve up chaos and ignorance for dinner. ALL DAY EVERY DAY. Change takes courage and the mythos of freedom has made us soft and lazy. We continue to eat crap like we are in Human Centipede 3 and enjoy it. In the end, I have unplugged from the matrix. I refuse to be desensitized. I refuse to remain silent. God has given me a voice and I will use it for justice, righteousness and love. I forgive him, because he does not know what he does. I pray fervently for those that are broken. I pray for those who are lost. I pray that God awakens His Church to do more than cry and become His hands and feet.

Brian Zahnd, a very insightful pastor wrote blog about his issues with the Bible. (http://brianzahnd.com/2014/02/problem-bible/) I have many of the same issues, but my perspective is very different because of being part of the disenfranchised. My conflict with the Bible is similar to question posed to Howard Thurman while he was on a trip to India in the late 1930s, "I am a Hindu. I do not understand. Here you are in my country, standing deep with the Christian faith and tradition. I do not wish to seem to be rude to you. But, sir, I think you are a traitor to all the darker peoples of the earth. I am wondering what you, an intelligent man, can say in defense of your position." (Jesus and the Disinherited, pg 19). This conversation with this Hindu man birthed one of the most powerful books written about Jesus and justice, Jesus and the Disinherited. This book continues to shape my perspective on Justice and Faith.

Jesus was not a member of the empire. He could not have been a member of the empire because he came to subvert the empire. I believe wholeheartedly in the potential that the Bible expresses. I believe wholeheartedly in the hope that the Bible shares and that Jesus brought into the world. I believe because it keeps me from acting out of line. It gives me safety in a world where I am not safe. 

I pray that the church, the bride of Christ, falls more and more in love with Him. The more we fall in love Jesus, the King of Glory, the Prince of Peace, the less we can love and remain in love with the empire. I pray that we will forever be followers Christ first, lovers of people, and whatever imperial banners we fly...way...way...somewhere down the list.

Happy New Year, Be Blessed.

Ernest

Christmas in Crisis

This entry is not intended to be long. But, just to be a message about Christmas. The world as we know it is in a seeming perpetual state of crisis. The brokenness of humanity has reached an apparent critical mass, but this was, has been, and always will be the context of Christmas.

Christ entered the world at a time of great crisis. The Roman Empire was pressing toward its zenith as the largest empire in the world. There was cultural, racial and gender-based oppression throughout the known world. This is the world of Hanukkah some 250 years before Christ and the world of Christ Himself. He entered the world to edeem the world by being in it but not of it. This is the world in which we live...not much has changed as much has changed. Democracy has replaced Monarchy, but Plutocratic Imperialism still lives strong. The police have become our praetorian guard...with the ability to compel us to do things with threat of force. Justice seems far away...or turning a blind eye toward the cries of injustice. Nothing new...right?

This is why I have hope. God has not forgotten His people. His ears are not too deaf to hear, nor His arms to short to save (Isaiah 59:1). He has heard and is hearing the cries for justice. God is up to something. As often the night is darkest before the dawn (an annoying cliche)--God is up to something. This Christmas will be one to remember the true reason for the season. When God revealed himself as Savior, Yeshua, Immanuel. God will reveal himself in Ferguson, Los Angeles, New York, all over the country and the world. Justice and peace will be seen by our eyes and we will marvel and say, "This is the Lord's doing."

God will shine...God will shine..."A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." That was the birth of Christ...the new and glorious morn took time (30 plus years to come to fruition...and it is still dawning some 2000 years later). The work of Christ did not begin with Christmas and end at the Cross...no, no, no...He was there with Stephen at his reckoning...Paul and Silas in jail...Peter, James and John at their ends...He was in the protests around the world...He is with the families as they mourn. Christ is still moving. God is still who he is. (This does not mean that I am all of a sudden ok with it all, not at all. Quite the contrary every fiber of my being is on fire for justice, my heart is broken, my head is spping with everything going on.) God is still moving...still working...still listening.

Merry Christmas...from crisis...to revival.

From Ferguson to New York to the Future: There's More I Must Say

About Eric Garner
This is a postscript, that is now an introduction of a recent blog post that I hoped I did not have to write. I am feeling stupid for thinking that the justice system (which many people are now saying is not broken) would look at the evidence and reach an indictment. The messages I discuss below are just as loud and clear in the lack of indictment of Officer Panteleo. There is an additional message that I want to address: There appears to be not a single case where police officers will be indicted until something changes. This is a giant problem. There is no time for respectability politics. This is the time to demand more and better. There is too much pain for the status "Crow" to remain in place.

Do not give me the bad data (promulgated by Bill O'Reilly) about more whites harmed (shot) by police than blacks of a rate of almost three-to-one. This data is flawed for several reasons. First, there are more whites than blacks. Second, the data fails to address the significant skewing of bad stops with the police involving blacks. Third, this data again serves to prop up an irresponsible globalization of "me too". Yes, all lives matter (in the abstract) of course, but that is wasteful in diluting the impact. Historically, black lives only mattered for entertainment, for workload, for sexual exploits, and in exchange our humanity was marginalized. This has not ended...it only continues in police control, in mass incarceration, in our deaths with impunity. In order for #AllLivesMatter to be true, #BlackLivesMatter must be true.

Read the original entry below:

Hello all,

First off, I am angry and heartbroken. I am frustrated by what I know about the justice system. I disturbed by the message that is ultimately sent by the continual lack of indictment (in reference to Michael Brown and John Crawford, but this trend extends back to the Oscar Grant shooting and the massacre of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell's murder at the hands of the police and countless more).

I almost had a breakdown before my Bar Exam Foundations Exam, I am immensely grateful for being taught the importance of prayer. For without prayer, I would have fallen completely apart and would have failed my exam.

This entry is a continuation of a number of things I have been writing: (Blog about Racial Justice, Blog about Trayvon and the Church, Hi, I am Black Man in America and two papers dealing with colorblind racism). This blog will address a number of threads and will look to the future of race relations and police action.

The Michael Brown Affair
There is much that I want to say about the specifics of this case, but I want to focus on three messages.

First message: Black men will rarely be presented as a victim, without a twinge of criminality and the white assailant will be presented as a "good guy" (sidebar: black women that have died at the hands of the police are rarely presented at all). This message came with the press conference in which the chief of the Ferguson police pointed to a possible robbery of a convenience store while celebrating the "meritorious" service of Darren Wilson. The need for a balanced narrative is vital and the lack of one only served to stoke flames of anger. Yes, there could be an argument that the initial message was that Michael Brown was presented as a young man with a bright future (the reality was he future was bright...even with the minor robbery--that could have been resolved with minimal damage). But, Michael Brown was just one of many, people victimized by the police (or others) that have had their characters assassinated by a horrible and tired criminal myth. The ultimate pain of this message is that it is continually used to justify the killing of young black men and women.

Second message: Michael Brown was not a human being, he was a black man aka a subhuman mongrel. This message is demonstrated clearly by the lack of EMS response, no police shooting report was filed, and Michael Brown's body was left out in the street for four and half hours, and the language that Darren Wilson used in his grand jury testimony. But, I want to make this clear that this is also an old and tired mythos. There is anecdotal evidence about police policies that involved allowing bodies to just stay at scenes to essentially wait out any crowds or witnesses to then investigate "without distraction." This screams two things: that the deceased is not a person worthy of prompt and proper investigation and that the police has much to hide. Many of the complaints leveled against the Ferguson police department is rooted in a lack of transparency which leads to a perception that the police protects racist policies and officers.

Third message: The police even when they do "wrong" are protected from impunity. This message is really at the heart of the protests that continue to rage across the country. From a personal standpoint, I am conflicted by the violence of the protest, but I do not judge them. The conflict comes from the fact that I learned community activism from the legacies of Dr. King and Paulo Freire and others. This type of activism is generally non-violent, but as it was pointed out that people can only be disappointed but so much. Racial and classist oppression is increasingly evident now in the age of rapid communication. The police's tactical decision to approach Ferguson as a warzone raised the stakes of the protests. The power differential was never more prevalent when there are armored personnel carriers, bearcats with snipers on them, full metal jacket military style tactics. This was a tonedeaf response to people that are legitimately hurting.

But, at the end of this all, there was no indictment (which does not mean exoneration or acquittal--means that for whatever reason [bad jury instructions, lack of evidence, lack of authority] the grand jury did not bring charges). I lay this trend at the feet of bad policy (albeit well-intentioned). The standard for qualified immunity remains too high, in that police officers must be proven to act with gross negligence (recklessness or exceedingly bad faith) to be charged with a crime. The rationale being that police work is difficult and complicated work and thus the court should give deference to officers based on the decisions made in the heat of the moment. This makes sense on the surface: provides judicial efficiency, recognizes the complexities of police work; and offers apparently necessary protections for officers. But, this standard sets the bar so high to get bad actors into court I would argue that nothing will substantively change until this standard is modified. The last section of this entry will be my suggestions. This is why I am angry. If the evidence was so compelling that Darren Wilson was right or better said justified, then go to trial get an exoneration, be transparent. But, no indictment or sense of justice (or commendations instead) is the norm throughout the country in these situations. Thus, this message is perpetuated repeatedly (Michael Brown, John Crawford, Ezell Ford, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Eric Gardner, Jonathan Farell, Amadou Diallo, just to name a few). Police are protected, our young men are targets from the start.

This Is A Spiritual Blog, right?
I want to close with some clear parting shots. There has been a lot of bad theology surrounding race from the start and I want to address two instances. First, the misapplication of Proverbs 10:1, "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother. (HCSB)"  Using this scripture to talk about Michael Brown is both insensitive and irresponsible. Insensitive, because it does nothing more than to pour salt into the open wounds. Applied in this way it bleeds pharasaism. Irresponsible, because this scripture is not about a moment but a lifestyle. Wisdom in the book for Proverbs is presented as a lifestyle. Walking with wisdom, pursuing wisdom, loving wisdom also foolishness is depicted on the scale of a life. We do not know Michael Brown nor his family enough to have any right to past judgment on how he was raised. His life matters and the continued living of his family and community matters more than to be pseudo-religious or falsely insightful. Stop. JUST PLEASE STOP.

Secondly, a viral post has circulated that was from Benjamin Watson, a tight-end for the New Orleans Saints (Original Post, Good Response). I am not going to recite either of the posts. The point I want to make is that the realm behind what we see is far more complicated. There is an element of sinfulness that rests in the heart of injustice. Men and women because of the fall of Adam are pointed against each other. Racism has existed since the fall and is the product of sin. But, the fact that there are spiritual matters at play does not mean that we do not have a role to play to make the world better. Actually, that is the reason we have the responsibility to respond not just in anger but in wisdom. We need to stand in faith with each other to bridge the gaps that are expansive.

What Now?
President Obama has called for federal standards regarding body worn cameras for cops and has asked for 236 million dollars for implementation. This is a quality first step, in municipalities that have started using them there have been a precipitous drop in complaints against police officers. Ferguson has to rebuild and make some hard changes in the structure of their police departments. Transparency and modifying qualified immunity standards need to be a priority. This is a pie in the sky that I am shooting for, but it needs to happen in order for communities across the country to heal. Practically, community policing, not for community policing sake, but policing to the fact that every person regardless of the situation they are encountered.

I am hurting because the pain is palatable. I am still very much afraid of the police and will continue to train young black men how to react and interact with the police, even though I know that they could still end up dead even when they do everything right. But there is hope here and I will leave with a quote from a past entry regarding hope:

I digress, but there is a theme throughout the movie [The Dark Knight Rises] where the villain, Bane talks about the absurdity of hope.  While he puts Gotham under martial law, turning over the rule of the metropolis to the "people", holding them hostage with the core of a nuclear fusion reactor, he promotes hope.  To him, hope inspires people to scramble for their own survival and devolve.  This perspective is honed in a pit, a jail in the middle of a middle eastern desert.  Where regularly inmates are given the chance to climb out of the pit only to fail and lose hope of survival.  To make it worse there is the story of the one that made it to the top, which produces hope.  Hope that it can be done, the one in million/billion can make it.

This is where Bruce Wayne found himself, this is where many of us find ourselves.  We are in pits dug deep into the ground of our lives, the valley within the valley.  We see others reach the top and climb out of their pits and it feels like we are trapped in the pits of despair that seem to be bottomless.  But, I can tell you that the Bible is clear about the pits of life.  The pits of life are false creations of an enemy that cannot get at what he really wants.  Look at the story of Job, the discussion that Satan has with God about Job who was described as the most righteous man in the world.  Job was so righteous and desired a right relationship with God that he offered sacrifices every day in the case of failings by his children.  This is what gets Satan's attention so he approaches God with an challenge against Job's righteousness, He was only righteous because everything was hunky dory or peachy keen.  God gave Satan the right to take away his children and his wealth and then when that failed the right to harm Job's body. I am going to stick a pin here. When I say that pits are false creations, I am not saying that the feelings that you encounter in the pit are not real.  the circumstances, the pain, the agony, the shame, despair is very real and should not be minimized.  But, I know of something that is more real and more powerful and that is hope.  (The Full Post)


Blessings,

Ernest