A public prayer for the people of Ferguson, Missouri, for people everywhere who want justice but do not want to be caught in the maelstrom of violence and turmoil the lack of justice ignites. Grant them and all of us patience to allow the wisdom and healing of time to assuage our anger, transform our disappointment, and remind us of our deep connections, one to another. In some real way we are all Michael Browns family, we all are residents of Ferguson. Last night a Grand Jury decided not to bring charges against police officer Darren Wilson in his August 9 fatal shooting of 18 year-old, unarmed Michael Brown. To me this comes as no surprise. Besides the torturous history of violent racism in the USA and in St Louis, the state of Missouri has an old law on the books which states it is not a crime for a police officer to shoot an unarmed man fleeing - many legal scholars had warned that Wilson wasnt going to be indicted by St Louis County. The likelihood of a conviction is usually a Grand Jurys number one consideration, and with that heinous law on the books, there was little chance that would happen. Never forget that the rule of law is not a reflection of the mind and will of God, and often, as in this old Missouri statute, not always the best of humanity. It is up to us to demand good laws, humane law enforcement and equanimity in prosecution. Just because someone is issued a badge and gun does not mean that person is automatically a hero or a villain. We are judged by how we live into the systems and roles we are assigned, how we change those systems when we know they are unjust. If there is any question about the racism baked into the culture and practices of our nation, it lives in the simple phrase, The Missouri Compromise. In 1820 Missouri was allowed to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine entered as a Free state. This compromise with evil remains an unholy chapter of US history, one for which we have yet to adequately atone or pay reparation. Because something is legal does not make something good, moral or just. Missouri has compromised once again, and the result is ugly, sad and maddening. I wish Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and President Obama had better prepared people for this. They both let us down. They both knew that the Missouri statute making it legal to kill an unarmed person fleeing police rendered it unlikely there would be a St Louis County indictment. The sad thing is that, once again, people have to wait on someone elses timetable to receive justice; would you allow someone to do that to you? I would never give someone that power. Please remember officer Darren Wilson is but one small piece of a system he did not create and cannot overthrow alone. Wilson was operating under the procedures, culture, prejudices and laws into which he was born and to which he swore allegiance. Whatever any of us may be inclined to think about Wilson, we are all just as responsible for his fatal actions by allowing the system to continue with less fairness than all deserve. We are the ones called to dismantle racism. We should never ask anyone to serve under the conditions Wilson served. All indications are that Wilson will be indicted on federal charges. That may not be enough for many people in the short term, especially those in poor, black communities around the United States. In too many American communities the legacy of racism continues to smother like a leaden, blood-soaked blanket, replete with the assumption of black guilt and the tacit belief that black lives matter less than white ones ~ especially when those lives are poor, especially if they are urban, especially if they hang on the street, especially if they have done something others can call a crime. Let all refrain from associating shoplifting as justification for taking a life. Let all refrain from accepting a system that perpetuates shoplifting, police shootings and prosecutorial indifference. As we pray for peace in Ferguson, let us also be slow to judge those who are fed up and take to the streets. We have no right to tell them they should just take it one more time. It is their community, too, and how they respond, although we pray for maximum peace and cooperation, will inevitably be fraught with more emotional energy than any of us who do not walk in their shoes could possibly understand
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 23:03:32 +0000