By Rev. Jabriel S. Ballentine
One could say the ultimate goal – Dr. King’s Dream – of the Civil Rights Movement was to create a society where people would “live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Where “[t]here is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” And we’re not there yet.
The Gospel Calls Us to be Reconciled
Just before His arrest and ultimate crucifixion in John 17:21, Jesus says: “I pray that
they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in
you.” If that was our Lord’s dying wish, shouldn’t that be our chief aim?
The One Thing We Learn From Ferguson
While coaching youth baseball, my granddad had an idea for using the sport to teach
life lessons to help keep young boys off the street. He remortgaged his house (a few
times over the years) to put up the money for what became a St. Louis Institution: the
Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club.
In July 1982, President Ronald Reagan awarded my granddad, Hubert Habib “Dickey” Ballentine, with the Presidential Citizens Medal for outstanding service to the community, to St. Louis, and to the United States of America. The citation reads: “The President of the United States of America awards the Presidential Citizens Medal to Mr. Dickey Ballentine. The good works of Dickey Ballentine flow as deeply through the city of St. Louis as the Mississippi River itself. His inspiring contribution to bettering the lives of inner-city youth is a shining example of the power of good.”
And because St. Louis meant so much to my granddad, “the Lou” is in my blood –
flowing as deeply through my veins as the Mississippi River itself. The killing of Mike Brown and the explosion of racial tensions in Ferguson has affected me in a personal way. I long to be in Greater St. Louis, instead of Orlando, and to be part of the healing there that’s long overdue.
I am not in St. Louis, but I find myself in familiar surroundings. Like St. Louis, Orlando has suffered from its own set of police and racially charged killings. The same issues exist. I am a Black father raising a Black son. I have sought to shield him from the violence of the inner city by moving to the suburbs. I am troubled that I am not able to protect him from the racism he faces while being Black in America.
I cannot ignore it. How do you see the situation? Do you feel it is systemic or localized to Missouri, the South, or the Northeast? I believe and wish to suggest that the reality of Ferguson and institutional racism has been in your newsfeed no matter where you call home. The deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, III, Rumain Brisbon, and Renisha McBride demonstrate the breadth of manifestations of racism across America.
I focus on Ferguson and Mike Brown because of the complexity of the case. It lacks the clarity some observed in the death of Eric Garner. The video of New York City officers performing a banned chokehold on Garner led to several days of large protests in New York City. It’s easy to feel compassion for Eric Garner.
But Mike Brown’s case is different. His story wasn’t as sympathetic. He was seen as a thug. And thugs deserve to be killed…right? What about the humanity of the young
adult who does not fit the popular notions of the sympathetic victim?
You Must be “Good” to Deserve Justice?
Our culture finds ways to justify the dehumanization of victims of injustice. This allows us to justify our individual and collective inaction. In a sense, we unknowingly begin to justify our own inhumanity to our neighbor.
The One thing We Learn From Ferguson is That America is Not Reconciled.
Regardless of what you think about Ferguson, the evidence is clear that, in the general sense, we don’t see the same thing. The death of Michael Brown and the differing reaction to the situation in Ferguson provide evidence that America is racially divided. In this Easter Season, let us reflect deeply about ways in which we can move to a vision where “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female” and we are instead one in Christ Jesus.