Cumming, GA
In 2020 it seems almost quaint to refer to the headline in
today’s paper, but here they are, from the Atlanta Journal Constitution
(AJC). “Shooting Angers City; Police Chief
Steps Down” and “Killing Rocks an Already Outraged Community”. The story starts
with a man falling asleep in a parking lot and ends with him dead. Seems there
were many chances to de-escalate the situation before that occurs.
There is so much happening right now, I can’t hope to hit it
all.
Also from the AJC. “Pressure builds for a Georgia
hate-crimes law” (https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/the-follow-pressure-builds-for-georgia-hate-crimes-law/OY413zDmqzKBXusWwoB8fJ/).
The legislature is back in session on Monday. Several top legislators have
stated passing a hate crimes bill is a top agenda item. Two Thursdays ago I
spent nearly an hour on the phone with my local state rep and senator, much of
it with them trying to explain why they were not supporting the current hate
crimes bill. While I disagreed with them at the time, now I have to say I agree,
but not for the same reason. Georgia must pass a Hate Crimes Bill, but HB 426
(passed, without my local rep’s vote) and SB 166 (in committee) are shit. It would
be among the weakest hate crimes laws in the country. As I read them, all they do
is slightly increase the minimum penalties for various infractions that have a
hate crime component. That’s not what we need. We have the time and if we have
the will power and focus we can do much better. Read the bills, here (http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/184241.pdf)
and here (http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/182492.pdf).
At one point in the discussion Todd and Greg tried to explain
that it was not right that hate crimes bills valued some lives more than others
by increasing penalties for certain victims. In their imagined scenario, I am
running with a black friend, a Jewish friend and a gay friend (we never walk in
to a bar). We are all shot, but the shooter gets a longer sentence for shooting
my friends vs. me. For the record, if that were to happen, I’d be a-ok with it.
And while you’re at it, please politicize the shit out of it to help get guns
off the street.
Last thing on this. The house and senate bills both include sexual
orientation and the senate bill includes gender identity. These need to be covered
explicitly in any bill that is passed. Again, the legislature goes back in
session tomorrow (June 15). Keep an eye on these bills.
Back to cops and police brutality. Not sure how I feel about
the whole “defund police” movement. We have to have some sort of law
enforcement. I do think we need to significantly shift funds toward community engagement,
education, mental health, etc, and away from policing in it’s current state,
criminalization and incarceration. Let’s start by de-militarizing the police. I
am reading The New Jim Crow right now. In 1998 the Cato Institute reported
1.2 million pieces of military hardware, include planes, helicopters, grenade
launchers and M-16 rifles were delivered to local law enforcement agencies. That’s
unacceptable for a civilian police
force. And police should not be outgunned by criminals. We need massive gun law
reform to keep them safe.
I heard an interview with a white preacher today. He told his
congregation that he would not talk about racism and racial reconciliation. He
said the problem is sin. Ok. And The Beatles said all we need is love. Both are
true, but I think God expects more precision and action in our diagnosis and
solution.
And…more and more of our faith leaders are speaking out, and
I love it. The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church posted “A
Call to Repentance and Pledge from The Bishop and Cabinet” on Tuesday (June 9).
It says, among other things…
“Through the ages, race has been
used to divide and conquer. This country, for much of its history, identified
those who are White as enslaver, and therefore superior, and those who are
Black as enslaved persons, and therefore inferior. This construct has permeated
our culture, our politics, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our educational
systems, our financial systems, our churches, and sadly, our very souls.
Injustice is also alive and well in
the life of our Church. Racism permeates our system
We will refuse to allow the Church
to dismiss abolishing racism and racist policies as “too political” in order to
avoid taking action. We call upon the Church to better balance personal piety
and social holiness. The Early Methodists invested their blood, sweat,
and tears in a relentless movement to abolish slavery in the British Empire.
We, their spiritual descendants, act squarely in the Methodist tradition by working
relentlessly to dismantle and eradicate the insidious evils in our culture born
of the enslavement they so detested.
They discuss Ahmaud Arberry, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor
by name. It’s a bold, brave statement. My church is far from perfect. There are
internal struggles with recognizing our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and they are not mentioned in the statement. But this is a strong start. It’s worth reading
the full post. https://www.ngumc.org/newsdetail/statement-and-pledge-14020488
Finally, a scripture that’s been on my mind. Luke 16:19-31.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus. Briefly, Jesus tells the story of an unnamed
rich man and Lazarus, a poor and sick beggar who laid at the rich man’s gate
begging for crumbs. Lazarus goes to heaven, the rich man goes to hell. The story
never mentions the rich man helping or even seeing Lazarus. I’d take it one
step further. The rich man chose not to see Lazarus. And when the rich man
wanted to see his brothers, to warn them, Abraham knew they would choose not to
hear. For a long time, many of us have been saying we did not know, see, hear.
We don’t have that excuse anymore. As Will Smith said, “racism is not getting worse,
it’s getting filmed”. If we don’t see-hear-act now, it’s because we choose not
to. That did not end well for the rich man and his brothers.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment