It has been nearly fifty years since an assassin’s bullet ended the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This means that two full generations of Americans know only what they have seen in photographs, film and read in books and magazines.
While there are still many people who had an opportunity to hear Dr. King in person, or even to meet him in person, he is as much a historical figure as a contemporary example. Over the last several years, each celebration of the birthday of Dr. King has been marked by eloquent calls to remember his sacrifice. The problem is that younger Americans are being called upon to remember someone they never knew.
For those who had the opportunity to meet or interact with Dr. King, those precious memories should be cherished. However, all Americans should embrace the task of moving beyond nostalgia to concrete action in the world.
Dr. King recognized the difficulty of neutralizing racism. It finds new crevices through which to enter our lives and social relationships.It is now attempting to encircle and discourage the first African American President of the United States; to strip away the historic significance of his election and to deny the accomplishments of his courageous leadership.
At the 2008 election of Barack Obama, I stated that his election presented a moment of both danger and opportunity for young black men in America. The forces of racism have worked tirelessly to reduce the opportunities and to elevate the dangers.
Perhaps the greatest challenge to our body politic is to understand the forces that led to and legitimated the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and Eric Garner in Staten Island NY. These tragic events have confirmed the unsettling reality that we have not yet solved the problem of racism in our society. The forces that legimate the killing of unarmed black men are the same forces that continually attempt to undermine the humanity of black people everywhere, whether on the street or in the White House.
Hand Up, Don’t Shoot: The Death of Justice In Ferguson
The shooting of Michael Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, 28, a white Ferguson police officer. The disputed circumstances of the shooting and the resultant protests and civil unrest received considerable attention in the U.S. and abroad, and sparked a vigorous debate about law enforcement’s relationship with African-Americans, and police use of force doctrine in Missouri and nationwide.(Revise this section before publication) Michael’s body lay in the street in the sweltering heat for approximately eight hours. This image of a slain black body being left on display was not just an accident, it was a reminder of an earlier day when black bodies were routinely left as grisly reminders of the power of prejudice and the reach of racism. Before being killed, Michael raised his hands above his head and said “Don’t Shoot”. In doing so, he was not simply surrendering, he was symbolizing the powerlessness and resignation experienced by many African Americans. Ferguson is a community shaped by prejudicial politics and economic disparity. African Americans suffer considerable disadvantages.
The four-year high-school graduation rate for African-Americans is 76 percent (as of 2009/2010). (The white graduation rate is 89 percent). The poverty rate for African-Americans is 27.7 percent (as of 2007/2011). The white poverty rate for the same period is 12.1 percent. The unemployment rate of African-Americans (2008/2012) is 18.0 percent. (For white Missourians it is 7.3 percent). The incarceration rate for African-Americans (as of June 30, 2012) is 38.2 percent.
But the perils that Michael and other African Americans experienced in Ferguson were not only political and economic. Young black men are stereotypically the objects of fear in the minds many whites. This unarmed teenager when viewed through the lens of centuries old stereotypes and contemporary prejudices, became a monster; one whose humanity was hidden from view and whose life was deemed worthless.
Indeed, his killer, Darren Wilson described Michael as “a monster” with superhuman strength. Darren Wilson in his grand jury testimony in the shooting of Brown described Michael as a “demon,” a monster with terrible resilience and incredible strength.
“When I grabbed him the only way I can describe it is I felt like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” said the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Wilson of the 6-foot-5, 290-pound Brown. “Hulk Hogan, that’s how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm.”
The situation was made worse by a legal system that was rigged to assure that Darren Wilson would never have to answer for his killing of Michael. The District Attorney was more interested in protecting the accused than in advocating for the victim. The grand jury was comprised of three African Americans and nine white Americans. It only required nine votes to render a decision not to bring the matter to trial. The decision was defended by saying that it was legal. But if there is one thing that Martin Luther King, Jr. understood, it was that just because it is legal, it does not make it just. The law is not meant to establish justice; but to protect it. Our laws are always imperfect reflections of our dreams and desires. The case of Michael Brown is not about what is legal, but belies a deeper question. Not a question about our laws but about the soul of a nation.
Our nation has looked for someone to blame for our perceived loss of global dominance. We have turned our fear toward the poor and disinherited. When Dr. King stood as America’s prophet, our nation was locked into a war with no apparent way out. We are now locked in a war where the adversary is nearly invisible and anyone could be a casualty. We need a way out of the grip of fear and hatred. We should resist the temptation to throw our hands up in surrender and despair.
I Can’t Breathe: The Toxic Environment of Racism
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died in Staten Island, New York, after a police officer put him in a chokehold. The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Garner died partly as a result of the chokehold. New York City Police Department (NYPD) policy prohibits the use of chokeholds, and law enforcement personnel contend that it was a headlock and that no choking took place. On December 3, 2014, a grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. The event stirred public protests and rallies with charges of police brutality. As of December 28, 2014, at least 50 demonstrations had been held nationwide specifically for Garner while hundreds of demonstrations against general police brutality counted Garner as a focal point.(Revise this before publication) The sense of outrage at the killing of Eric Garner was heightened because the event was captured on video. The verdict required that we not believe what our eyes witnessed. As the life ebbed from his body Garner uttered “I Can’t Breathe”. His words pointed to a deeper reality for many African Americans. Living in the toxic environment of racism threatens one’s capacity to respirate. In NtozakeShange’s award winning choreopoem “For Colored Girls When the Rainbow is Enuf.”, the lady in orange stands in the space of her man, a war veteran caught in the grip of drug abuse, unemployment, and despair. Her first words are “there is no air.” The space in which many African American exist is devoid of life giving oxygen. Like Beau Willie in Shange’s work, Garner lived in a space where the opportunities for economic stability were scarce. Here race and poverty intersected in a tragic moment. Garner was accosted because he was selling loose cigarettes on the street. This transaction subverted the law which required that taxes be collected. He was caught in an economic system that choked the life out of him and people like him.
As the life slowly left his body, Garner uttered, “I can’t breathe”. African Americans are not the only people who are being asphyxiated by the thin air of racism. Dr. King continually reminded us that ““There is no separate black path to power and fulfillment that does not intersect white paths, and there is no separate white path to power and fulfillment, short of social disaster, that does not share that power with black aspirations for freedom and human dignity. We are all bound together in a single garment of destiny.” The fact is that we are all caught in the chokehold of violence and mistrust. And we are all struggling to breathe.
The enormity of the challenges outlined above could paralyze us spiritually and render us unable to do anything. But we must remember the words of Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
What can we do as committed Christians? What can we as people of faith do? What does the Word of God say to us at this moment in time? (Kairos) We have at this moment, an opportunity to bring an empowering, liberating and tangible expression of the Word of God to bear in a world searching for a new order.
The Bible refers to this reality as “a new heaven and a new earth”.
- We can articulate, as the prophets of old, a love and peace, that is valid everywhere.
- We can ask God to Breathe on Us, and fill us with life anew…
- There is more for us to do.
- We must clear the air…so that the children of God may all be able to breathe again.
- Clear the air in our sanctuaries of the pollution of bigotry, intolerance and hatred.
- Clear the air in our homes of the invisible toxins of abuse that breeds domestic violence.
- Clear the air in our communities of the contaminants that lead to alienation, frustration and despair.
- People around the world are yearning to breathe free.
- From Paris, to Beijing to Cairo people are demanding that the air be cleared of oppression.
MLK would have understood and supported our efforts to clear the air.We must clear the air so that we might all be able to breathe again.
James H. Evans, Jr., Ph.D., Litt.D.
Robert K. Davies Professor of Systematic Theology,
Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School
Senior Pastor, The St. Luke Tabernacle Community Church
