In a world gone crazy, it is important for us to learn how to see the root causes. I use the phrase “root causes” deliberately, because it is the kind of thing that liberals love to appeal to, whether we are talking about race riots here, or barbarity in the Middle East. But when they get to talking about root causes and the “broader context” of whatever outrage it is, they invariably veer toward their programs which desperately need more funding.
The root cause is sin — high handed sin in the first instance, and a quiet and mousy enabling sin in the second. What we are talking about is basic — evil behavior in the first instance, and bewilderment about what to do about it in the other. We are now seeing on the national and international stage, over and over again, the same realities that play out when a three-year-old flips out in a restaurant because he didn’t want that kind of ice cream, and his hapless parents are completely and utterly at a loss about what to do about it.
All of these issues are matters of understanding the moral center, and the attendant issues of discipline, strength, incentives, disincentives, resolve, and leading from somewhere other than from behind.
Whether it is a micro issue or a global one, life is a power struggle. There are those with power, and there are those who want it. There are those with power, and there are those who have figured out that those with power don’t know what to do with it. There is right-handed power, Putin-like, which God hates, and there is also limp-wristed power, Obama-like, which God detests. Then there are the bad actors who decide to make the challenge. You show weakness and in about fifteen seconds the challenges come.
And of course every Christian knows that we must distinguish the weakness of the cross, which is true strength, from the weakness of timidity. Christ before His accusers was silent, and He overthrew them all. Belshazzar went weak in the knees at the written word that came to him, and he was overthrown that night. A great deal of weakness is not the hidden wisdom of God. A great deal of weakness is just the manifest folly of man.
ISIS has apparently beheaded an American journalist, James Foley, and threatens to behead another one. Aside from everything else involved in this, who does not see this as a challenge, a taunt, a “what are you going to do about it?” An appropriate response should not be medium level, moderated disapproval by a ditz at the State Department.
When the governor of Missouri calls for “vigorous prosecution” of the the police officer who shot Michael Brown, we all need to know that it is because the evidence demands an indictment. We need to know that it is not because a part of his state is burning down, he is starting to look bad, and he needs a sacrificial lamb. But that is plainly something we do not know. A thousand people in the street with their hands up in a universal sign of surrender does not mean that is what Michael Brown was doing with his hands moments before he was shot. But we do know what Pilate did with his hands — he washed them because a mob was yelling.
If Darren Wilson did an indefensible thing, he should be prosecuted for it. Absolutely. And if Michael Brown did an indefensible thing, we should find out what it was, and there put the matter to rest.
And in the meantime, we need to pray for leaders who understand the world that God made, a world of cause and effect.
“If Darren Wilson did an indefensible thing, he should be prosecuted for it. Absolutely. And if Michael Brown did an indefensible thing, we should find out what it was, and there put the matter to rest.”
And I say, yes, let’s put this PARTICULAR matter to rest, but let’s not put the larger, systematic matter to rest, which is that there may ACTUALLY be a reason that African Americans react this way in these circumstances, i.e. that they ARE targets, and they know it.
OR, Drew, perhaps they are just paranoid because of all the race-baiters who take situations like this one and jump to conclusions.
I suppose it would be completely out of line to suggest that we offer more Reporters passage to Iraq to determine what is REALLY going on over there…..
@Darius: So Al Sharpton makes racial profiling happen? Not sure that holds water.
Drew is spot on. Despite all the political posturing, this is a good opportunity to correct an injustice within a system of power.
Assuming Drew is serious and not a troll, could you please explain in what way black Americans are targets? A very simple web search will pull up statistics that would bring one to the conclusion that blacks are targeting blacks at an overwhelming rate for physical violence. Planned Parenthood targets black women in what some describe as black genocide. I’ve done prison ministry. The overwhelming majority of the inmates are black. But I cannot, with all seriousness, recall one inmate telling me he was in prison because of white oppression. I’ve heard, “I beat my girlfriend”, “I robbed a store”,… Read more »
@Rob:
Can you explain? What exactly is the injustice, and how was it present in the Brown case?
@PB I’d say that it’s safe to say that the Ferguson PD isn’t representative of the community it polices. Not that you have to have a perfectly demographically identical police force for your city, but if your police force looks more like Montgomery Alabama circa 1964 than Montgomery Alabama 2014, then it begs the question of the police know the community well enough to distinguish between a threat and a civilian. The show of force issue, both in terms of Mr. Brown’s arrest and the response the crowds, is worth a discussion too. There are protests of this scale and… Read more »
@ Rob: So, it appears that there are two different issues at play here; the actions of the Ferguson PD and Officer Wilson up to and including Brown’s death, and the police response to the protest that developed later. I read you as saying that there was injustice in the make-up of the Ferguson PD. Because of the racial disparity between the police and the community, the police could not properly interact with the community it serves. Is that accurate? If so, are you personally familiar with any PDs that serve a minority community? There are often units within the… Read more »
“And I say, yes, let’s put this PARTICULAR matter to rest, but let’s not put the larger, systematic matter to rest, which is that there may ACTUALLY be a reason that African Americans react this way in these circumstances, i.e. that they ARE targets, and they know it.” I could post pages of links to stories of whites assaulted, raped, and killed by blacks for being white. I’m sure that would get me banned from here pretty quick because we don’t talk of such things. Even Doug Wilson couldn’t address matters of race honestly if he wanted to without becoming… Read more »
@PB Three of fifty-three Ferguson PD officers is black. The community at large is 80+ percent black.
The city in which I live has at least four different “community outreach” groups within the local PD that I’m aware of. Setting up something similar in Ferguson would probably be a good first step. The relationship between the community and the police need not be adversarial in either direction.
Cops don’t just oppress black people. They oppress everyone. They just oppress black people disproportionately. The problem is not having bad cops. The problem is simply having cops. When this country was founded, police departments did not exist. Every time you create a police force, you are creating an army of men who will beat up innocent people, commit perjury, and enforce unjust laws. Luke 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be contest with your wages. Matthew… Read more »
@Rob There has been much hand-wringing concerning the bean counting of person’s color in fire departments and police departments (actually in a whole lot of places). I have personal knowledge of a white female being passed over for promotion even though her score far exceeded the black female who was promoted over her. Is this not injustice? I’ve heard the arguments that the tests are race-biased whatever that means. Do we not want the best qualified in these positions? I was plainly told by an HR friend I had three chances of landing a job for an open position at… Read more »
@Rob: But isn’t the relationship likely to be adversarial if society imposes its values through a police force to a community that doesn’t share those values? Do you not recognize that there is a sub-culture that exist within the inner cities that despises authority? Isn’t it possible that charges of racism could be used to subvert that authority? I hope you will consider that you could actually be contributing to the problem when you post about injustices in the police depts, without really understanding the nature of the problem. Just assume for a minute that an honest, well intentioned officer… Read more »
Puddles of the day: The ice water challenge and the ISIS challenge.
Pastor Wilson, I’m interested to know what you think the appropriate response to the ISIS taunt is.
Jeff, I do jail ministry also and I am a probation officer to boot. In our area, 95% of the criminals are white. The fact is, when I was a young man, my parents told me that if I was ever in trouble, to go find a policeman. My friends in law enforcement (LE) now sat that they are taught in their academies to treat all civilians as if they were potential culprits, even when they are the victim. They truly do approach situations with an “us vs. them” mentality. What we need is Jesus – Jesus in our police… Read more »
The facts we have so far have moved us beyond the media wishful thinking narrative of racist kills black child, though you wouldn’t guess it from the comments here. I think that the people of Ferguson are going to get exactly what they are asking for, a town where giant bully can steal and intimidate people without being confronted. They will also get their wish for an all black police force along with all black teaching staff in the schools and all black populace. Once freed of the scourge of white oppression they can become a utopia like Detroit. Of… Read more »
I will also point out the the Middle East is currently suffering from a deficit of tyranny. We helped overthrow and kill several tyrants who were apparently about as bloodthirsty as they needed to be to maintain order. People who are so nice that they can’t shoot looters have no business mucking about in the Middle East.
Jeff, we can do anecdotal stories all day. For example, I know a Native American woman who applied to the University of Washington from out of state. She was turned down. She appealed, citing that she was a member of an Indian Tribe in Washington State. She was provisionally admitted, graduated, obtained a Masters Degree and is now working in her chosen profession. If she had not been a member of the right Tribe, she would never have gotten into UW.
I do not know a lot of anything, or anyone. I do not know much, many or most of anything or anyone. I sincerely hope that I know what I think that I know. When speaking of any politically protected class, I frequently hear admonitions to not stereotype, and to interact with individuals as, well individuals. From reading here and other places where there is an attempt to use facts and reasoning, I am often encouraged by a percentage of people whose will buttress their opinions with facts. The one exception “seems” (to me) to be when law enforcement is… Read more »
The lesson of Ferguson is stop watching the news. It’s a local story that should have stayed local. Whatever the systemic abuses black people face from the police forces in this country, no help will come from ambitious journalists of the cable news wasteland.
The lesson of ISIS is don’t vote Republican until they pledge to leave foreign policy in the hands of someone more competent. But oddly, no mention of Iraq here…
Matt, It is comments like “…systemic abuses black people face from the police forces in this country” that I find consternating. I would really enjoy some factual support to any statement like that. I hardly ever see any. Case in point: several years ago there was a teapot tempest regarding so called “racial profiling” being performed by the New Jersey State Police. It resulted in Federal research (by a group absolutely sympathetic to the accusation). As hard as they tried, there was zero evidence of the practice. Individual “my next door neighbor’s aunt’s grandson’s friend was…” is not data, nor… Read more »
@ RFB – Data or not, sometimes anecdotes do present facts. After all, one common approach to research is to have people tell their stories. Of course there are stories about things that happened and then there are the kind my Grandma meant when she used say: “Don’t story to me”. I expect we’re getting a little of both when it comes to the topic at hand.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2014/08/22/america-in-black-and-white-why-do-so-many-of-us-respond-to-ferguson-so-differently/#comment-172765
The commentary on race issues that comes out of the reformed community is really just shameful. I guess it feels good to have the president and the New York Times on your side once and a while.
JohnM, “…one common approach to research is to have people tell their stories…” That might be a valid method IF all people’s stories are subject to the same level of scrutiny. Since LEO’s are subject to coercive, under-duress, reporting of fact, with penalties for refusing or providing false testimony, are you willing to subject non-LEO witnesses to the same level of coercion? How about polygraphs all around for all witnesses? And mandatory criminal charges and aggressive prosecution for any false testimony from any witness. I know that a majority of LEO’s that I associated with in more than 3 decades… Read more »
RFB, My point was simply that, contrary to conventional wisdom, anecdotal evidence that something is going on should not always be dismissed out of hand. Am I willing to subject non-LEO witnesses to the same level of coercion as LEO? Maybe so, whenever they have the same level of involvement in the incident as the LEO did and are alleging something against the LEO. Yes, I can empathize with the cop who did the “dirty work” that insulates most of the rest of us from the dirt, only to have some clown (I’m being really nice here) accuse him of… Read more »
John,
Thank you for meeting me in a reasonable manner on this.
Law enforcement officers are not punished for lying. In fact, perjury charges for prosecution witnesses in general (not just cops) are quite rare. So I disagree that officers suffer penalties for false testimony. And I trust cops less than the average person. Even John the Baptist pointed out officers’ predilection to accuse people falsely.
Interesting and civil discussion about these issues. I’ve refrained from participating in many others because they seem to degrade pretty quickly. Regarding the calls here to hearken back to an earlier time, one thing that is easy to forget is that the world became much “smaller” with the internet. We are wrestling with one another from a sizable distance about people and places we know little or nothing about. For example, I lived for 3 years in a nearby suburb to Ferguson. The only thing separating our town from Ferguson was the airport. All of the suburbs around that area… Read more »
Drew, I do not want to enter into a tit-for-tat debate regarding your personal opinions, so this will be my last statement in this post. If you read my earlier ones, you know that I have been entreating for facts. You say: “Law enforcement officers are not punished for lying. ” That is a strong assertion with no support from you. Here are facts: I have worked internal affairs in multiple agencies. The penalties that I have recommended, assessed, witnessed and executed for lying have included suspensions, terminations, and documentation that lead to an end of chosen careers in law… Read more »
IMO, merely saying that the root cause is sin is a way of washing our hands of the problem. Of course the problem is sin but which sin(s) and whose? It is the latter question that causes us to be defensive. So instead we say what everybody says, if everybody was like us, there would be no problem. Because of Christianity’s historical dominance over Western civilization, we are raised to embrace this thing from syncretism to conflation that causes us to confuse our way of life with the Gospel. Thus, we prefer to deduce what the problems are in places… Read more »
The discussion on TGC blog doesn’t involve any scripture in context and doesn’t involve any discussion of facts. The truth is that white racism is the most strictly enforced taboo in our culture and has been for a long time. Evidence for white racism is vanishingly small and typically has to be manufactured to meet the demands of progressives. In spite of this the social conditions of urban blacks continue to deteriorate. Instead of addressing those facts you will only see discussion of hurt feelings, “privilege”, and racial political power demands. Then Christians are shocked when “Gay is the New… Read more »
Curt Day
Saying “…what is needed from the Christian community, especially the White Christian community, is to listen.. ” begs the question and exposes your own bias. You started reasonably enough with “IMO” so you shouldn’t end with pretending neutrality and objectivity while scolding the rest of us for supposed lack thereof.
@RFB, I quoted John the Baptist. Is that not fact enough for you? And I base my opinion on my experience so far in being a criminal defense lawyer. I once did a case where the judge admitted that there was “a lot of embellishing and lying going on” at the trial, but that it didn’t matter. See Ratliff v. State, E2011-01187-CCA-R3-PC (Tenn. Crim. App. 2012). A few days ago, I won a car forfeiture hearing after the detective acknowledged that his prior affidavit, swearing that officers had observed my client distributing cocaine out of the car on multiple occasions,… Read more »
@RFB, I quoted John the Baptist. Is that not fact enough for you? And I base my opinion on my experience so far in being a criminal defense lawyer. I once did a case where the judge admitted that there was “a lot of embellishing and lying going on” at the trial, but that it didn’t matter. See Ratliff v. State, E2011-01187-CCA-R3-PC (Tenn. Crim. App. 2012). A few days ago, I won a car forfeiture hearing after the detective acknowledged that his prior affidavit, swearing that officers had observed my client distributing cocaine out of the car on multiple occasions,… Read more »
And I typed the wrong name when I first tried to post just now, so I may have double-commented. Sorry about that.
To JohnM,
The IMO applied to the first paragraph while the second paragraph starts with a historical known. But I fail to see the scolding that seems to have offended you. The 2nd sentence of the 2nd paragraph does talk about a defensive reaction I’ve observed in many people. This kind of defensiveness is of experienced by those who are highly ideological. With our emphasis on principles and reason, many of us Conservative Christians fit this description. Now if you are making efforts to listen to the Black community, why be offended?
Curt Day, No, the second paragraph was pretty much your opinion as well, other than perhaps your reference to the fact of Christianity’s historical dominance over Western civilization. Which of course has been much to the benefit of western civilization. Yes, that’s an opinion and I’ll stand by it. That people disagree with a particular assertion or assessment doesn’t they’re being defensive. Don’t you agree that I’m right? Do you deny that you are taking “the White Christian community” (that’s a thing?) to task? White Americans can and should listen to black Americans without presupposing themselves to be especially the… Read more »
JohnM, It seems to be an opinion you support with your following statement. So it it is unnecessary for me to debate it or to insist that the statement is a simple historical observation. And whether Christianity’s dominance over Western Civilization was beneficial to Western Civilization or not, we might want to check some details on whether Christianity’s dominance there was self-sabotaging when we see all that is associated with that dominance. And to answer the question in your second paragraph, as long as you mean the majority of White American Christians, the answer is yes. Why? The wealth disparity… Read more »
Curt Day, For clarification, the opinion part is the conclusion in the paragraph following your historical observation of “Christianity’s historical dominance over Western civilization”. I believe the word I used in reference to your own comments was “suppose” not “presuppose”. Of course it could be the latter depending upon what you take for granted. Sometimes there is less gap between suppose based on observation and presuppose based on a world view than we like to…..suppose. I don’t start with the supposition that you are immune to that anymore than anyone else. Why does “The wealth disparity in this country”, “the… Read more »
Those asking for facts about systematic problems: “Defenders notes that in the court’s 36 three-hour sessions in 2013, it handled 12,108 cases and 24,532 warrants. That is an average of 1.5 cases and three warrants per Ferguson household. Fines and court fees for the year in this city of just 21,000 people totaled $2,635,400.” “Whites comprise 29% of the population of Ferguson but just 12.7% of vehicle stops. After being stopped in Ferguson, blacks are almost twice as likely as whites to be searched (12.1% vs. 6.9%) and twice as likely to be arrested (10.4% vs. 5.2%).” “Searches of black… Read more »
JohnM, Supposing is still hypothetical. We use the term in mathematical proofs. It assumes the premise in order to prove the implication. So nothing significant occurs in my missing that word. BTW, some of the typos I make are mostly due to the times I don’t wear glasses while typing and so I miss some mistakes. Yes, I meant segregation and that, from personal observation and the observations of others including Martin Luther King but that was a while ago. Others have written on blogs confirming that segregated churches are still the same. BTW, there is no personal immunity assumed… Read more »
It strikes me that demands for safety in black neighborhoods and demands for more lax law enforcement are in conflict with one another.
Blacks have disproportionately benefitted from Stop and Frisk in NYC and it will be a shame when left and right libertarians economically segregated from gun crime do away with it.
Barnabas,
Where do you get your info? My experience in activism and talking to Blacks from NYC and observing their protest of Stop & Frisk is that they are not the beneficiaries of the program. Rather, those running the prisons are–check out the incarceration rates. But again, where do you get your info?
I didn’t say you were going to find many cheering for it. Violent and properly crime absolutely dropped in NYC during the period that S&F was in effect and shootings appear so far to be higher in 2014. Critics would argue that crime dropped in most large cities during that period. You couldn’t say how much was due to S&F since other factors are undoubtably also at work. It is interesting that the last numbers wiki has 2012 show a homicide rate of 5.1 for NYC and 18.5 for Chicago you will find published debates as to whether Chicago should… Read more »
Barnabas, you’re making a huge assumption and missing very important components of the situation. First off, you’re assuming that S&F has led to significant lower crime, especially shootings. As you note, that hasn’t actually been shown and is debatable. In fact, no one has demonstrated that S&F leads to lower shooting rates anywhere, much less in New York specifically. More importantly, you’re assuming that the benefits of police measures like S&F are worth the costs. I’m not just speaking of the loss of civil liberties, alienation of the community, perceived bias, etc. (Or the random negative incidents that occur, like… Read more »
Jonathan, I’m no more a supporter of S&F than Rand Paul is, and probably based on similar thinking, but how do we know white people use drugs just as much as black and latino people do? For all I know maybe they do, but how is/has that been ascertained? It may be that even if middle class white suburbanites do use as much as everyone else their use isn’t attended quite so much by the same kinds of highly visible problems, gangs, violence etc., and lesser but still serious problems such as inability to hold a job, homelessness, and so… Read more »
If you argue that S&F doesn’t mean that less young black men are carrying guns on the streets of NYC then I think that you are being deliberately obtuse. You are also weighing arrest and release for low level drug possession and a general dislike of being hassled against a body count. Even the most committed civil libertarian will reach some level of violence where he will concede that aggressive policing is required. Don’t think its needed in NYC? How about Chicago where the murder rate is more thatn 3x higher? What if you reached the violent crime rate of… Read more »
Now as to why we have massive numbers of black men encarcerated, unfortunately we have massive numbers of black men that commit crimes. I saw numbers quoted above that seem to show unfair sentencing. How might black men end up in jail more often for nonviolent crimes? 1. Offend repeatedly 2. Don’t show up for a court date 3. Refuse to pay fines imposed by the court (see recent national story of a mother jailed for her kids repeated truency) 4. Don’t show up for you court ordered communty service, counciling, etc. The arguement that we shouldn’t be jailing these… Read more »