The following statement by Presbyterian clergy responding to the Zimmerman verdict is a call to peace and an end to gun violence that would have made the prophet Isaiah vomit.
Some have said a statement by UCC clergy went too far and assumed that George Zimmerman was guilty. Let’s place the Zimmerman decision aside and stop fighting over whether it was the right verdict in terms of Florida law. I don’t care about doing historical autopsies. Could we please address the question our black brothers and sisters are asking? Could we please at least address the question of whether a black teen who does not dress up as white is fair game for vigilante stalking?
I don’t know or frankly care about the Zimmerman trial. I am concerned about the situation many black kids face every day of their life. I’m concerned about a nation that holds white up as paradigm for beauty, wisdom and historical significance and refuses to see those practices as white supremacy. I’m concerned that my denomination is so imbedded in white privilege that we dare not mention the elephant in the room, which is racism. We do not have to condemn George Zimmerman to see there is something terribly wrong in our nation. Could we as a denomination not say so?
Isaiah condemned clergy making such statements as false prophets calling “peace” what is not peace. We all know what these comfortable clergy are saying. Their statement nowhere mentions, much less condemns, the epidemic of violence against black teens by the state and by other black teens who have internalized that oppression as self-hatred. By “peace” these clergy do not mean for whites to end our violent oppression of black people. They mean for black people not to shoot back.
http://www.pcusa.org/news/2013/7/15/church-leaders-issue-statement-george-zimmerman-tr/
this is amazing and the whole idea of the point i was trying to make…no matter what the fact that a young man died because he was of color is absoluely puttinng us back to the racism of the sixties…thank you for this post!
“Could we please at least address the question of whether a black teen who does not dress up as white is fair game for vigilante stalking?”
Loaded, unfair question. Admit it; be intellectually honest.
Dan, How is the question unfair?
Jim, one of our former moderators suggested that we as whites remain silent for awhile, lest we exercise white privilege. To me, that smacks of cowardice. I sought counsel from an African American clergy and scholar. What he said is that we cannot dismantle privilege if we do not join voices. I can’t step foot in a Presbyterian church right now and that makes my heart ache.
Shanna, you are wise. We should always go to the people most affected by an oppression to determine what is helpful. I agree we should not speak on other people’s behalf, but that is no excuse for silence. I am sorry you feel you cannot go to a Presbyterian Church right now, but I certainly understand.