Over the last few weeks the United States has been going through some interesting discussions. We have home some really terrible incidents in the last few months and many have gone through the justice system and the results have caused major unrest result in protests, some peaceful, but many not and riots, which by their very nature are not meant to be peaceful. For those unfamiliar with the situation (I know I have many followers from outside the US) these incidents involve how police handled situations with people like Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others.
I have often talked about our God-given expectations in our role as parents. One of the most important is guiding our children to interpret and understand the world through the proper lenses. Certainly my greatest hope is the first lens that my children will see through is God’s, however they may choose to discard that lens, so the next lens I can provide is that of basic decency and morality. While I certainly have a Christian lens, for this discussion I am going to move from that to something I hope more people can accept, which is that second level, because I believe the topic at hand is important enough that I do not want to lose people who just do not want to read another discussion of what Scripture says.
As parents I believe it is a common wish to have our offspring be successful as they move through life and we try to equip them with this. As a parent how I discuss incidents like these with my kids will determine how they frame their judgments the rest of their lives. It will train them which lenses to use.
In the incidents at hand, there is a crucial question, certainly, but I think that too many in America have made it the wrong question because they have labeled these problems as having primarily a racial element, and I firmly disagree with that. I believe to frame them that way clouds the discussion to the point of not addressing the real question, which is what must be done to hold authority figures (police officers) accountable for their actions when those actions exceed what would be considered reasonable and customary? Saying that Michael Brown or Eric Garner were killed because the officers were white and they were black is not right. They were killed, at least in Garner’s case, because the officers in question used poor restraint and judgment.
The officers involved in Garner’s case used a banned method of restraint. To me this is the fundamental problem. Garner died because an officer choked him to death. He did not die because the officer was white. I am not going to discuss what the consequences of this action should be for that officer. That is for the authorities to decide, but what I have a problem with is that there should be some consequences when someone, regardless of position does something wrong. This is my problem with diplomatic immunity extending to possibly allowing a homicide to occur because of someone’s status and no consequences being applied. The situation is similar to a police officer being “immune” as well. This is what I do feel was broken in this case. I think using the race lens and protesting and rioting because of black and white relations is so disrespectful to people that it makes my heart ache. Were there race issues in this country? Unquestionably. Are there still some today? Certainly. However, they are much improved over where they were 150 years ago, 50 years ago and even 25 years ago. When I was in college my parents would still openly use the N word. Today, while they may still think that in their heart, they do not utter it and they get upset when others do. I do think we have a generation or two until this nearly vanishes from a daily concern, but the point is it gets less and less every day and prominent people like Chris Rock and others in that community have publically stated that as well. By turning these incidents into black versus white, or anyone versus anyone we are creating natural defensiveness of entire groups. When my black friends discuss this in those terms it makes it hard for me to truly talk about it and vice versa. It is not a color issue, it is a people and relationship issue. Is it ever right for a police officer to choke someone? If the answer is no, then we need to focus on that problem and not cloud it with race. This is what I hope everyone, including my kids, understands.
Now let’s look at another problem in these cases, using the Brown incident as our back drop. Was what Brown did worthy of his death? Again, that is not for me to opine on. I was not there, I do not have all the facts. What I have heard is that he was acting is a belligerent way at some point and the officer felt threatened. This is the root of the situation as well. Garner was doing something illegal. Again, if people want to argue about if selling the type of cigarettes he was selling should be illegal or not, there are forums for that, but it will not be changed by yelling and screaming and rioting. That just shows that proper, peaceful discourse is not a method of dialogue used by those making that choice and so their opinions are discounted because of the violence used. Does anyone seriously want to make the argument that the right way to get someone to change is to violently force them to do so? Should we wrestle or co-workers to the ground in a meeting or pull a weapon on them in the hallway because they want to do a project task in a manner different than we would? If that example is obviously stupid, then why do we feel this is the right way to change a community? Sadly, I think the lens these people were given by their parents or others was that violence is the way to get heard. You do get heard; in the same way that Eric Garner and Michael Brown were heard. Once you start yelling, screaming and threatening all the person or people you are attacking focus on are your behavior, not your goal. No matter how much Garner or Brown thought they were in the right, arguing with a police officer who legally has the right to detain you and arrest you is not the answer. Sadly, these men lost their lives doing that and investigations of these incidents were done, but I believe the fact that the focus of the public was diverted to race made it impossible to really address the problem.
Why? Because of the fear of what strong discipline in these cases would mean. It now became clouded with white and black instead of just being about right and wrong. I do not care what color Eric Garner was. What the police officer chose to do was wrong and there need to be consequences for that. I do not care what color Michael Brown was, I care that he was aggressive to a police officer. I do not feel he should have lost his life for it but I was not the officer faced with the situation. We need to fix the abuse of authority in these cases. I hope we can see our way clear to do that, and I hope all our children can get past the clouds of the race issues of the past and see what is really broken. When we see injustice because of race we should certainly speak up, but we need to stop coloring what should not be colored.
In the end I do feel that the officers should have to respond for their actions. In the Brown case, I believe that was done to some degree especially since the officer resigned. In my mind, not knowing that situation, I’m not sure if he made the right choice. Trust is shaken and in a profession where we need to trust that man, he realized he could no succeed and so will now choose another career. In the NYPD case with Garner, I have not seen any consequences so this needs to be fixed. The LAPD wrestled a woman to the ground a few months ago because she was on her cell phone while driving. It is being investigated. This is good. People need to be responsible as so clearly stated in the video by Charles Patrick. Let’s all try to be more responsible for ourselves today.
