We are to blame!


Yep, we wanna blame that SOB white cop for keeping his knee on George Floyd’s neck. That’s why we’re having all these damned uprisings all around the world.

Oh, really?

It’s like, a couple thousand years ago, blaming Judas Iscariot for Jesus’ death. Or Pontius Pilot. Or those Roman soldiers who beat him or who pounded the nails.

Nay. Hymn writer Horatius Bonar got it right way back in the 1800s:

’Twas I that shed the sacred blood,
I nailed him to the tree,
I crucified the Christ of God,
I joined the mockery.

True, Mr. Floyd’s death was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

But, for my fellow white friends, please review these shameful facts that our black brothers and sisters face:

-About 1 in 1,000 black men and boys in America can expect to die at the hands of police.

-A black male in the United States today has greater than a 1 in 4 chance of going to prison during his lifetime.

-African Americans are locked up at more than 5 times the rate of whites.

-The imprisonment rate for African American women is twice that of white women.

I’m blessed to have many friends in Christian ministry. Most of these pastors are white, with typical American family history. But one Christian leader is black, and you might find this a little more difficult to identify with. His son was murdered, his father was murdered, his grandfather was murdered, and his great grandfather was lynched! When he gets stopped for speeding, he is ordered to get out of the car and place his hands on the roof of the vehicle. When he and a wealthy friend go fishing, a fine boat occupied by two black men invariably gets stopped. Just a routine check, of course.

We may not be old enough to remember lynchings, but some of us can still remember the shameful episode in 1944 when a little black boy was given the electric chair for the alleged murder of two little white girls. He later was proven innocent, but that didn’t bring back his life.

No, dear readers, the blame goes far beyond rogue white cops. It includes white prosecutors and judges, but goes even further.

It is time for us to lament. To confess. And then to be voices and examples for change.

We are to blame.






Comments

Bob Bulten said…
Amen, Doug. The events of this week have encouraged me to start reading Soong-Chan Rah’s Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times. Thanks for your faithfulness, Doug.
June 1, 2020 at 8:12 PM
Cindy Anderson said…
Thank you, Doug...for putting words to my thoughts. We have to change!
June 2, 2020 at 9:56 AM
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