FERGUSON, MISSOURI

Like so many others today, my thoughts are on Ferguson, Missouri.  How could they not be?  This town has become front and center in the thinking of the nation because of a tragedy that took place there.

            At the heart of Ferguson there are two stories unfolding.  One of the stories is that of a young man, Michael Brown, and a young police officer, Darren Wilson.  The other story is that of how to place Brown and Wilson's story into a greater story of racism, justice, and equality.   

            As to the immediate story, Michael Brown was shot and killed by Darren Wilson.  Those who support Michael Brown say that Brown was innocent and that Darren Wilson murdered him.  Those who support Darren Wilson say that Michael Brown was the aggressor and that Wilson was simply defending himself against an aggressor that Wilson described as having "the most intense aggressive face ... it looks like a demon, that's how angry he looked."

            When the Grand Jury, having looked at all the evidence, chose not to indict Wilson, violence broke out in Ferguson, and led to a night of looting and burning and destroying.  Time will tell as to where all this will lead.

            Once again our country is caught in the middle.  Who do we believe?  The witnesses that saw things the way we wanted them to be seen or the witnesses who saw things the way we didn't want them to be seen?  Are the members of the Grand jury liars bent on racism or are they twelve honest people who went where the facts took them, regardless of the fallout?  Is the Prosecuting Attorney, Bob McCulloch, a racist with a mindset to hurt the black community and enable the white community?  Is violence an accepted act when a decision goes against what is wanted in a certain town? President Obama and the parents of Michael Brown don't think so, and pleaded with people to remain calm. 

Brown's parents went so far as to ask people to "channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen."  Burning cars and buildings, looted stores and businesses in Ferguson tell us that there are some folks in that community who didn't listen very well, and in their actions disrespected the life and death of Michael Brown.

            Most people in Ferguson, Missouri, by the way, were not out on the streets looting and destroying.  If we can't acknowledge this fact, then we, as a people, might just be beyond help.  There are some people among us who have looting and destroying in their blood.  It is who they are.  Either by training or choice hostility pours from them, and they seem to rise up at opportune times to take their booty and run. 

Ferguson, Missouri is not about those who loot, steal, and destroy.  Ferguson, Missouri is about a race of people in America who have been enslaved, put down, kept back, ignored, held in contempt, treated as less than human, made unequal in their standing, and who have just about had all they can take.

            I know that the African American community in Ferguson, and all throughout the land, joined by many people of other races, will never accept the Grand Jury's decision.  Justice, for them, was not a following of the facts but, rather, reaching a conclusion that made officer Darren Wilson, guilty, and 18 year old, Michael Brown, innocent.  You might as well not try to change anybody's mind on this point.  Minds are made up, wills are set, and hearts are fixed.  In this light, what does it mean for a nation like ours to move forward?  How can there be peace and justice and community, in a world where individuals still act out of the context of their own being?  Is everybody on one side always wrong in their action because they are on that side of the issue?  Is everybody on the other side always wrong in their actions because they are on that side of the issue?    

            I need to be very careful as to how I speak about these matters.  After all I am a white middle class male.  I'm pretty sure that my take on things is different than someone whose roots are buried in the dark side of the American dream.  I'm not sure my color disqualifies me from speaking into the issue, but I am sure that I don't have a corner on truth, insight, wisdom, or knowledge. 

As a follower of Jesus Christ I think I need to be very careful as to how I process Ferguson, Missouri, as well as the greater Race issue in our country.  I am thinking that maybe for today and for a whole lot of tomorrows, a lot of us need to slow down a little bit, pay close attention, listen carefully, and bring our own lives into conformity with the One who laid down His life for all of us and who was raised from the dead to show us the reality of what it means for God to be present in the human situation.

How do we go forward, as a people, in moments like these?  Rodney King was mocked a bit when, in trying to settle the situation down after the police officers were declared not guilty in their trial for beating him said, "Can't we all just get along?"  Apparently not.  Not yet, at least. 

Still, people of good will need to stand together, pray together, seek solutions together, and walk the journey together.  We need to talk to and with each other, not at each other. 

The old Sunday School song, sung in about every church in the America when I was a kid said, "Red, yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight."  Really?  Then let's start acting like it.  In the name of God, let's start acting like it.