The problem with the police

Police violence, particularly against black men and boys is a serious issue and must be addressed.   The fact that Baltimore has a black mayor and black police chief clearly shows that police violence against black men is not so simple as blaming a bunch of white racists for acting inappropriately but race cannot be ignored as a factor (see more below).  Race is not the only issue though and as some of my racist friends are quick to say, "White people get killed by the police too." 

Let me begin by saying that for most of my ministry I have had police officers who were members of my congregations.  To a person they were dedicated, conscientious people who took their jobs very seriously and truly wanted to do the right thing.  Still, the officers I have known well struggled with the issues below.

Back in seminary I did a stint as a student chaplain in a mental hospital.  It was a formative experience for me in many ways and I learned more from my supervisor, Bob Cholke, than I could begin to share.   One thing he said was very relevant to the problems we're seeing with the police today.  After working a few weeks at Haverford State Mental Hospital, Cholke said, "Be careful... if you spend much time here, you'll see everyone as crazy."  It was true.  As I spent more time with the mentally ill folk in the hospital I began to see that they really weren't that different from everyone else I knew.  It was a short jump to seeing everyone else I knew as like them... crazy.  I think the same is true with police officers.  They spend a lot of time with bad people and it doesn't take long until they see everybody as bad.  They would argue that at times their very lives depend on seeing the worst in the people they encounter.  That may be true, but it does change the way they see everyone and the ways that they interact with the public.

Race is clearly an issue in our culture and we often characterize criminals as being people of color.  You see a violent crime drama on television and there is a good chance that the criminal is not white.  Turn it around and people of color are seen as criminals regardless of what they have done.  This happens even with police officers who are black.  Add this to the sense above that everybody is a criminal and you've got a recipe for problems. 

The militarization of the police intensifies everything.  I remember hearing a commentator watching the police in Ferguson who said that when he was in Afghanistan, he was less heavily armed on patrol than the police were on the streets of Ferguson.  When the police arrive in full combat gear, that elicits a response that is not good.  It intensifies the sense of an us/them divide.  It escalates the potential for problems.  We all know that the police are supposed to protect and serve but the military is there to engage an enemy.  Some years ago I heard Ray Bakke say that the future of urban ministry was in the hands of women because men tended to escalate the potential for violence.  The softer approach of women lessened the tensions.  How much more true is it that a heavily armed police force in full combat gear escalates things as opposed to a softer presence?

The solutions are not simple and they are not without cost.  A softer police presence may indeed make the job of the police more dangerous.  It may also make the general public less likely to suffer from violence by police officers.

Race in America

I'm white.  That fact has shaped my experience of life from day one.  I grew up in a mixed neighborhood in the city and experienced the civil rights era as a child.  I know what racism looks like and I've experienced it up close and personal... from my side of the equation.  As I look at the USA today, I see that we have come a long way in regards to race, but anyone who thinks race is a non-issue is naive, blind, or just plan stupid.

Yesterday a verdict of not guilty was handed down in the George Zimmerman trial.  I wasn't there to hear the testimony or arguments so I can't make a judgement as to whether or not that was a reasonable verdict.  I can say that it was all about race.  Had the races of the two parties been reversed and a black man had shot and killed an unarmed white teen walking home from the store, the arrest would have happened immediately and the trial would have been short and to the point with that black adult now in jail.  Everything about that evening had to do with race.  I would guess that Zimmerman may have been afraid, but was that fear reasonable?  No.  It was based on racial stereotypes and prejudices.  Had the boy been white, Zimmerman would not have even noticed him.  And I am positive that Trevon Martin was afraid.  My black male friends have all told me that from the time they were little boys their parents ingrained in them that they could only walk in certain ways and act in certain ways when in public or they would be profiled and could end up being victims of violence, often times from the very police who were supposed to be protecting them.  They were warned that at times, one could die for Walking Around Black or Driving While Black.  Martin was walking home, being followed by someone in an SUV.   He knew the possibilities.

There is no way that I could minimize the terrible thing that George Zimmerman has done and I cannot but hold him responsible for the events of that evening.  He took the life of a young man with no reasonable justification.  (That he went on Fox News and said that it was God's will that he be there only infuriates me more).  Still, the situation is not so simple as one racist man acting out.  The events of that night and the jury verdict are indicative of a sickness in our culture where black youth are devalued to the point that one can be killed with virtually no ramifications.  We have a legal system that incarcerates young men of color  at nearly 10 times the rate of white men.  Through them in jail and take away any hope of a future.  A report by the Department of Justice found that blacks and Hispanics were approximately three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white motorists. African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.  Every measure shows that African American men are more likely to experience injustice in the legal system.  I believe that is simply an indicator of societal values.

Shiloh Baptist Church

On Easter Sunday, the Obama Family attended Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington DC. Shiloh is an historic black church, founded in 1863 by 21 freed slaves. Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton each attended there at least once during their presidencies. I know the pastor, Wally Smith, who is also the current president of the Palmer Theological School (my alma mater). He was on the faculty by the time my wife was a student and he was one of her professors. Palmer is one of the more conservative seminaries related to the American Baptist Churches USA and while Wally falls solidly in the tradition of the African American large church pastor, he is anything but radical. Like the vast majority of African American pastors, as I know him, he leans left on issues of poverty and race, right on issues of sexuality and is conservative in his theology.

That didn't matter to Sean Hannity. It took three days to find something they could use to brand him as controversial but eventually they found a video of a lecture at Eastern University where he spoke about racism and called Fox news and some in the conservative movement on their racism. In Hannity's world, Wally Smith and Jeremiah Wright are one and the same. Can you really believe that there is any church the president could have attended and not been attacked?

If it were not for the results, the story would be laughable it is so ridiculous but there have been results... since the story ran on Wednesday, Shiloh Baptist Church has received over 100 threats including a fax with a graphic of a monkey with a target across its face. And Sean Hannity is claiming the high road? Claiming that we live in an America where racism is no longer a problem? No, the only place where Wally Smith is controversial is in Hannity's warped world... a world where a Fox television host uses race as a way to whip up a political base who have had their ridiculous birther ideas discredited again and so need some new story to radicalize the first Black President.

Obama on Race

that's why I'm hoping that he becomes our next president.

that's why the world needs Obama to be the next leader of the United States

If Obama Wasn't Black

He wouldn't be Obama. It is that simple. If he was white, female, differently abled, whatever, he would not be Obama. The man is where he is because of who he is and he is who he is because of the experiences that have shaped him. A central part of that experience comes from growing up as a man of color in the United States. His experience shaped his career choices. It presented him with a specific mix of opportunities, culture, and obstacles - all of which contribute to the man he is today. It shaped his message. It shaped his view of America. It shaped his dreams of what he could be and what we could be. So yes, Geraldine Ferraro, were Obama not black, he would not be where he is. But that is no different than saying, "if an eagle didn't have wings, it couldn't fly."

Of course, that is not what Ferraro meant. She meant that he is not qualified and that somehow, Barack Obama is the recipient of some kind of affirmative action for politicians that catapults him to the front of the line because of race. He is not capable but we'll give him a shot because he's black. She is belittling him... and all of the rest of us. It gives those who are blatantly racist a good excuse to not even consider Obama and it calls into question the judgment of anyone who is in the Obama camp.

This represents racism of the worst kind. It plays on all of the old stereotypes of a black man both as incapable and as irresistible. Just as race seems to be receeding as an issue in American life, it calls it back to the forefront and renders any progress we have made as suspect. That Ferraro doesn't seem to get it only shows the depth of racism in her. That Hillary Clinton has not condemned the statement in a categorical way only shows the degree to which she is willing to turn her back on what is right if it is politically expedient.

Of course, Obama is not only black. He is male. He is well educated. He comes from the midwest in urban settings. He had a specific experience of class. He has a lifetime of experience in the African American Church. He has a genetic makeup with certain abilities hard-wired into him. He has a wide variety of descriptors, each of which has served to help shape him into the man he is. And there is something in his character that has decided how each of these influences would change him. All in all, of the choices available, it adds up to the candidate for whom I would like to vote for president.

Olbermann on Ferraro

We've all heard the comments by Geraldine Ferraro that Obama would not be where he is where he not black...

Keith Olbermann has a hard hitting commentary on this incident.




my next post will give another perspective on Ferraro's comments.

You've Won!

As Americans we all like to win from a "dollar and a dream" to "you never know." Occasionally some kind of competition takes place where the spectators are the ones who really win.

In 2009 a car race will take place sponsored by Automotive XPrize. This race will involve cars that are commercially producible and will get 100 miles to the gallon of gas or its equivalent. The winning team will get a multi-million dollar prize (probably not enough to recover their development costs) but they will also have the honor and the publicity of producing a technology that could free us from the stranglehold of the oil industry, save our environment, and potentially change the direction of the future. And then the free market will take over. And if anyone gets anywhere near the goal, we'll all be winners! Cool!