Floyd’s distress as he struggled to breathe and at his death
by the police who are sworn to protect our nation’s people, including George Floyd. I am heartbroken at the suspicion and bigotry
against people of color that has been so woven into the fabric of our justice
system that their every encounter with it is filtered first through the color
of their skin. I am heartbroken that a
Black man cannot go birdwatching in Central Park without being falsely accused
of violence, or go jogging through a white neighborhood without being shot to
death. I am heartbroken that my son, who
is Black and who grew up alongside his White classmates at Alfred-Almond,
cannot feel as safe as they might feel at a simple stop for a traffic
violation. I am heartbroken at the national leaders who feel that voices of
anger and protest must be met with a fist, a policy that endangers not only the
protesters but also the lives of the police who are being used to wield that
authoritarian will. And as a Christian minister, I am very heartbroken, even
angry, to see the President of our country using the Bible and the church as
props to support a response to the protests that is anything but Christian.
It was reported that the President chose to stand in front
of a church with a Bible in order to appeal to his evangelical base. I hope, however, that his evangelical base is
more familiar with the Biblical mandate than President Trump is since the
phrase “Law and order” never appears in the Bible but the words “justice,”
“compassion,” and the promise that God “will incline God's ear to do justice
for the…oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more” do. The anger of the protestors is biblically
sanctioned, and any person who considers themselves a person of faith (or even
who simply considers themselves a humane person with a heart for others) should
be angry at the injustices people of color endure every day in our
country. While I, with so many, condemn
the violence of the few, I cannot and will not condemn the anger of the many;
as uncomfortable and as frightening as anger can be, I will accept my
discomfort and my uneasiness in its presence and allow the anger of my fellow
citizens to warn me that it is not enough to be heartbroken. I will instead constantly remind myself that
I follow a man who overturned the tables of moneychangers in righteous anger on
behalf of the poor, and that anger can be a holy mark of faith.
Reverend Laurie DeMott
Union University Church
Alfred, NY
