Blessed are
the Peacemakers
Part Two –
Ferguson, seeking peace in America
Written by Dan McDonald
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called sons of God.” –Matthew 5:9
It was on
September 15, 1963 when four black girls attending church at Birmingham’s 16th
Street Baptist Church lost their lives because someone placed a bomb inside the
church. I believe American’s struggle to overcome racism has made important
progress since then. But events in Ferguson, Missouri this summer indicate that
there remains all too much room for progress. Several witnesses have described
seeing an unarmed Michael Brown yelling with hands held in the air “Don’t Shoot.”
Moments later he was dead. His body was left in the street for four hours. Soon
the streets of Ferguson, Missouri were filled with protesters. The city with a
population a little more than 70% African-Americans wanted answers from the police
force that was more than 90% white. Protesters held their hands up chanting “Don’t
Shoot – hands up – Don’t shoot.”
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/09/09/ferguson-officials-big-changes-are-coming/
I am not the
best person to write about race divisions in America. My world is so white, but
perhaps the questions and concerns I raise might be understood by other whites,
because I am sure that we need to be asking ourselves questions and learning to
ask our African-American brothers and sisters in America questions.
I get the
feeling that a lot of white people don’t understand how one incident in
Ferguson, Missouri could cause the uproar it did. That is how a number of white
people seem to think about Ferguson. But Ferguson wasn’t about one incident. It
was about a series of events where deadly force was used by police against
young black men when it seemed like deadly force was not really needed. Michael
Brown was unarmed. So were a number of other young black men who lost their
lives in confrontations with the police. Some instances had witnesses believing
the police to be acting in an abusive manner. No policeman was ever indicted
for shooting a black man in these circumstances. The situation was repeated
often enough that black parents spoke of having “the talk” with their children,
especially the young boys. You know, the talk about how if a young black man
gets out of line he probably won’t be treated in the same way as a young white
kid acting the same way. Things could get out of hand really quick if the young
man in the confrontation with the police was a young black man. Ferguson wasn’t
seen by black America as a single incident. It was seen as an all-too familiar
scenario. The protests in Ferguson went national. There were demonstrations
from Duke University in North Carolina to San Francisco in California.
Hands up in San Francisco
Hands up at Duke University,
North Carolina
I hope and
believe that most of America’s police are well-trained and act professionally.
But I have read enough about events in Ferguson to at least start to suspect
that a lot of things weren’t being done right in the Ferguson police force.
Maybe there are more policemen and police forces whose conduct should be
corrected and not tolerated. Maybe we need to begin to ask questions when young
black men die and witnesses say something was wrong with the way things went
down.
Personally
I wonder how much certain stereotypes that too many of us have, came into play
elevating the danger of a confrontation between an armed policeman and an
unarmed citizen. Have you ever been in a situation where a silly ugly stereotype
caused you to fear? I thought I was better than giving in to such superstitious
stereotypes. Then one evening I was at a convenience store. Four young black
men came into the store. Almost immediately within my mind I wondered if some
sort of trouble was about to erupt. If four young white guys had entered the
convenience store I might have expected some loud talk but not trouble. But
because it was four young black men I thought trouble might erupt. It must have
been evident in my face. One of the young men said to me, “Good evening sir” as
he moved by me to draw a drink from the soda dispensers. It was then that I
realized that the four young men that had entered the store were some of the
most polite young people you could ever meet. But there were stereotypes I did
not even imagine I had that were in my head causing me to fear. It was an
evening that taught me about how my mind was not as free from racial
stereotyping as I had imagined.
That
experience causes me to wonder about other scenarios. I imagine a policeman,
maybe not as trained as he ought to be, or not as stable as he should be, who
also has racial stereotypes running through his mind whether he realizes he has
them or not. Instead of a polite young man at a convenience store it is a young
man with a young man’s swagger maybe with the brashness we sometimes see in
youth. It may be something the young man will grow up and grow out of in a few
years, but for now he is about nineteen or twenty, young and full of come as we
say. There is a policeman with a badge and a gun and expecting respect. Maybe
the policeman has a stereotype running through his head that causes him to
fear. Maybe he wasn’t trained as well as everyone thought. Maybe he should
never really have been a policeman at all. You can imagine so many situations
where a policeman with a gun, acting on the impulses of a stereotype turns to
the use of deadly force when he would not have done so if a white kid acted the
same way. Race is still a problem in our land. It still needs to be discussed.
We need to understand its inner workings in our minds and hearts so much more.
As the
events of Michael Brown’s death and the eruption of protests unfolded in
Ferguson, news channels began to broadcast discussions about race. One of the most
discussed news broadcasts where a panel talked about race in America was seen
on Fox News. It was unbelievable. The photograph went viral of the Fox panel
discussing race. The photograph is below. Yes, these five white persons are
going to have a serious discussion about race in America. It was for Fox News
the ultimate screw up.
But maybe
if you are white like me, this photograph is one of the most important things
we can learn about the problems we have with race in America. One of the
statistics expressed after Ferguson was how three-fourths of whites have no
social events with non-white friends. That is we don’t go to a restaurant to
meet with black friends, or go to a ball game, or a museum or have them into
our house for dinner. So take a close look at the Fox News panel. Remove the
screens and the line of news scrolling across the scene beneath the panel,
imagine that there is no camera and you are one of the persons sitting at the
table, and the table is your dining room table. That is how so many of us who
are white discuss race issues. These five people could be my family, some close
friends, and like my typical life it is so white. Fox News provided us with the
very image of why there is such a horrible racial divide when so much progress
has taken place. We seldom talk in normal settings about race with other races,
only with our own. Blacks are less this way than whites, but it is also true
for many blacks. We need to change that where we can. We need discussions about
race between ordinary people and not expert panels and we need to sit down and
listen when the other speaks.
I believe
that the peacemaker is not simply someone who looks at people and sees humanity
in them. He is also one who lays down his defenses and listens. If I believe
Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker then I believe that the peacemaker is no more a prophet than he is a priest. The peacemaker is a priest who listens to another and can be
trusted with what is said to him. In time the peacemaker may speak as a
prophet. But first he listens as a priest, takes everything in and lifts it to
God asking God’s blessing upon each of our individual expressions of humanity.
Maybe we drink a beer together at a ballgame because we discover we like the
same baseball, football or basketball team. We work to discover one another as
human beings. We build a life in common.
PS – for
those who understand – I think January is not soon enough.
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