On Michael Brown and Ferguson Missouri

Regular followers to this blog will know that I often write of international injustice. But now injustice is in "my own backyard."

In Ferguson, Missouri, a young black man, Michael Brown was shot 7 times and killed by a police officer. That much is not in doubt. Many claim race was a motivating factor in shooting Brown - others claim that the officer was "doing his job." I've seen "counter-claims" recently where a white person who was unarmed was shot and killed, and complaints that the media was not covering THAT issue.

Of course, ALL lives matter - Black, White, Asian, and so forth! But the Michael Brown incident does not happen in a vacuum. It speaks to the larger societal problem here in the United States. That problem being Racism.

First, we must accept that racism is real and it is ugly and it is sinful. We cannot fall into "straw man" arguments that one group is racist in a different way from another in order to justify racism. Racism exists in the hearts of all people to some degree. We must admit it, and we can then move on to fixing it. Racism against minorities, however, is at a different level - it is oppressive and it prevents real lives from reaching their God given potential. Racism is built into our very systems of life - Government, Families, Churches, Neighborhoods, and Friend Groups. When the majority (whites) recognize this, a major step has been taken.

Second, we need to understand that oppression is real. Yes, slavery has been abolished - Civil Rights Acts have been passed, but the poverty level is a systematic injustice. The counter argument will say that certain "groups" do not work hard enough to get out of poverty. We can find counter examples in any group of people. But the sad reality is that minorities have more hoops through which they must jump in order to reach the social status of whites.

Third, we must see that minorities are subjects of suspicion whether or not they are guilty. I have many friends of various minority races in the US, and most of them (including those of middle to upper-middle class members) can recount more than one time where they were followed in a store as being suspected as a potential thief. Others have been asked why they were in a certain space when they were causing no trouble. The list continues. Yes, some minorities cause problems. Some whites cause problems. The color of one's skin does not predispose someone to leading a criminal or virtuous life. It is sad that a minority child must learn that he or she will be suspected as a criminal before he or she even becomes an adult. I can't even imagine what pressure that brings to the mind of a child.

I don't have the answers for what we can do to fix all of this. The "fixes" must come from the micro and the macro levels. As individuals we must be willing to cross the barriers and stand with the oppressed. We can't all travel to Ferguson, but we can all do something for race equality in our own areas. At the macro level, our "justice" system must be truly that - a JUSTICE system for all people! This may mean the passing of laws, enforcing existing laws, and doing what it takes to protect the inherent rights of our minority brothers and sisters.

And most importantly, I believe that is the answer. One day, we must stop saying we are "allies," but we must say that we are brothers and sisters. When we say it, we must mean it!

God help us!