Tag: #blacklivesmatter

A Story (of Tweets) About America

As things have been happening across our country in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis last week, I have been sharing my thoughts on Facebook. I have decided to share them here, as well, going back a few days. Here is what I posted Friday:

Some tweets this morning that tell a story about what is happening in Minneapolis right now, and about how you, my fellow white friends and family, should be reacting to events.

To begin with, Peter Dauo’s tweet: the reason things are happening in Minneapolis is because, first, of the actions of police officers bringing state power into George Floyd’s life, and killing him over something that doesn’t even come close to justifying capital punishment (as if anything ever could justify that kind of injustice, but that’s a post for another day), and second, because of the decisions of those in power in Minneapolis to justify the actions of those officers by refusing to hold them accountable. This is the same story that has been happening across our country for the better part of 400 years: the use of state violence to keep black and brown bodies in submission and constant fear of death. Those in the streets of Minneapolis, and those of us who stand with them, are over that shit.

So they marched last night, and yesterday, and the day before that, and four years ago in Baton Rouge #altonsterling, and five years ago in Ferguson #michaelbrown, and six years ago in Cleveland #tamirrice, and eight years ago in Sanford Florida #trayvonmartin, and 50 years ago in Watts and Harlem and Memphis and Selma, and a hundred years ago in the ruins of Black Wall Street right here in Tulsa, and so many countless other times that I know I’m missing, but Jesus there are so many to try and remember and honor and mourn. They marched because injustice happened, and as Dr. King reminded us, where injustice happens to one, it happens to all. They marched because it is their democratic right to do so, to hold their leaders accountable, to demand equal treatment under the law, to remind the state it doesn’t get to have unlimited life and death power over us, whom it derives its very power and authority from.

And instead of hearing and recognizing the pain and anguish and anger present in those marching, those in charge doubled down, and began attacking peaceful protestors, with rubber bullets and tear gas and batons and pepper spray. Let me say that again: they attacked PEACEFUL PROTESTORS less than a month after armed white terrorists marched on various state capitols around the country because they couldn’t get a haircut and got fawning coverage on Fox News and got called “some good people” by our President and didn’t get attacked or stopped or hardly even acknowledged by police and the powers that be. But some peaceful protestors tried to get the state’s attention and asked for justice, and all they got was pepper spray and the abuse of the police. You didn’t even have to be protesting to get that abuse either; just ask S. Lee Merritt, whose black body made him a target regardless of any actions he was or wasn’t taking. “Keeping the peace” my ass.

And so, as Tomi Lahren had to have pointed out to her by a real hero, by a powerful woman of color, when peaceful protesting didn’t result in change, but instead resulted in more state violence, the people responded in kind. They began burning and destroying property because, and the Hampton Institute reminds us, in a world where the only thing power understands is the commodifying of every damn thing, where stuff if much more important and valuable than people (and if you don’t think that’s true, just think back to the “thousands of deaths are the price we must pay to reopen the economy” crowd), then you start destroying commodities. Oh, hey. They got your attention now. Lifeless black bodies didn’t do it. But a burning television sure as hell did. Welcome to the party.

Now the protestors get accused of “looting” for taking the only actions that would be heard by the state and those with money and power who run that state. But you know what, Warren Gunnels is right: looting isn’t the burning of a Target and the anger of an abused people. Looting is getting rich off the bodies and lives of people. Looting is using pandemics and recessions and wars and fear to vacuum up every last dollar to stick in a bank account somewhere in Majorca, and at the same time, fund disinformation campaigns claiming those who want a decent living wage and basic health care and reliable access to food and water and a roof over their head without constant fear of eviction are in fact “communists” and “free loaders” and “takers”, instead of acknowledging that they are in fact just people who want to raise their children and live their lives and not be robbed from above. Looting is what millionaires and billionaires do to the rest of us every day, while the state stands aside, or even in most cases, helps.

Which brings me to the last tweet. From the man who became our president almost four years ago, who built his own immoral fortune by fleecing and looting and hurting regular, every day people. Who this morning went on Twitter, and called for AMERICAN CITIZENS – you know, those people who he works for (not the other way around), who he serves at the pleasure of – to be gunned down in the streets, because again, property in Minneapolis is deemed more important than human lives. This sad, orange little man who lives on the public dime like the welfare fraud he is, has the gall to look at the people he has made a life and career out of looting, screwing and demeaning, and actually think that he can just have them put down. He can find the ability to praise white supremacists marching in Charlottesville and cospatriots playing solider in Grand Rapids, but the name he gives to people demanding justice and fair treatment under the law “THUGs.” And all of those people who have stood behind every action he has taken for four years, who bend over backwards to justify his every action, no matter how much it may trample everything they once claimed to stand for, will again retweet him and praise him and fawn over him and scream MAGA and call for “thugs” everywhere to be put down like dogs. It’s sickening, and it leaves little hope in my heart for the future of our country, because about 35% has gone way off the deep end and is determined to take us there with them.

I’m angry this morning, in a way I’m usually not, and while usually I would apologize for being this angry and pointed in my language on Facebook, I don’t think today I will. If you are shocked by this, by whats happening, by how angry and upset and rage-filled people are: good. You should be. You should have been paying attention before (God knows you had every chance) and, well, I’m glad to see you are now at least. Support the Americans fighting for their basic rights in Minneapolis today. Join your local “#BlackLivesMatter rally. Resist powers that dehumanize. Stop valuing stuff more than people. Work for a country and world where the rich don’t get to loot the poor and force everyone into poverty in their deranged and demonic drive for MORE. And keep your thoughts and prayers; the only kind of praying we should be doing right now is on our feet.

The Black God

As things have been happening across our country in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis last week, I have been sharing my thoughts on Facebook. I have decided to share them here, as well, going back a few days. Here is what I posted Wednesday:

As I think today about George Floyd in Minnesota, and Christian Cooper in the Bramble, and Ahmaud Arbery a few weeks ago in Georgia, I think this becomes an important time to cede my voice to that of Dr. James Cone and his idea of our Black God:

Dr. Cone preaching during his time as a student Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

“The blackness of God means that God has made the oppressed condition God’s own condition. This is the essence of the biblical revelation. By electing Israelite slaves as the people of God and by becoming the Oppressed One in Jesus Christ, the human race is made to understand that God is know where human beings experience humiliation and suffering. It is not that God feels sorry and takes pity on them (the condescending attitude of those racists who need their guilt assuaged for getting fat on the starvation of others); quite the contrary, God’s election of Israel and incarnation in Christ reveal that the liberation of the oppressed is a part of the innermost nature of God. Liberation is not an afterthought, but the essence of divine activity.

The blackness of God means that the essence of the nature of God is to be found in the concept of liberation. Taking seriously the Trinitarian view of the Godhead, black theology says that as Creator, God identified with oppressed Israel, participating in the bringing into being of this people; as Redeemer, God became the Oppressed One in order that all may be free from oppression; as Holy Spirit, God continues the work of liberation. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Creator and the Redeemer at work in the forces of human liberation in our society today. In America, the Holy Spirit is black persons making decisions about their togetherness, which means making preparation for an encounter with whites.

It is the black theology emphasis on the blackness of God that distinguishes it sharply from contemporary white views of God. White religionists are not capable of perceiving the blackness of God, because their satanic whiteness is a denial of the very essence of divinity. That is why whites are finding and will continue to find the black experience a disturbing reality. (…)

Those who want to know who God is and what God is doing must know who black persons are and what they are doing. This does not mean lending a helping hand to the poor and unfortunate blacks of society. It does not mean joining the war on poverty! Such acts are sin offerings that represent a white way of assuring themselves that they are basically ‘good’ persons. Knowing God means being on the side of the oppressed, becoming one with them, and participating in the goal of liberation. We must become black with God!”

A Black Theology of Liberation, Dr James Cone, pgs 63-65

As Dr. Cone goes on to say, this “becoming black with God” is not the work of our hands, but the work of God and God’s grace, righteousness and justice for God’s people. To be a part of God’s work in this world – God’s work for, with, and as an oppressed person – means we must see the culture of racism at work when people like Ahmaud and George lose their lives, or people like Christian have their lives threatened, all because of the color of their skin.

Lord, give all of us who are white and who are taking a part in the privilege that comes with that the humility to see the system we are part of, to repent of our sins, and to become able to be a part of your work of liberation and life for all your people, but especially for those who are oppressed and unable to breathe. We don’t deserve forgiveness for Ahmaud, for George, for Christian, and for all the other uncountable names whose blood and lives are on our hands, but we come on hands and knees asking for it nevertheless. May your mercy and your grace be wide enough.

Rioting and Looting at the Tulsa Race Massacre


As things have been happening across our country in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis last week, I have been sharing my thoughts on Facebook. I have decided to share them here, as well, going back a few days. Here is what I posted this morning:

Today marks 99 years since white Tulsans began looting and rioting, destroying the wealthiest black community in America. That rioting and looting has not yet ended. In fact, it’s been going on for 400 years, since the first black bodies were looted from their home and brought to this continent to serve as wealth generators for whites.

Are you having a hard time understanding the anger and pain and outrage you are seeing across our nation right now? If you are, I invite you to Google the Tulsa Race Massacre and read as much as you can about it. Read about how an entire swathe of Tulsa was destroyed and hundreds of innocent lives lost, all over fear, jealously and lies. Then, multiply that one incident by the number of days since August 1619, when the first slaves arrived on these shores. And try to imagine the amount of grief and frustration that has been held down and controlled during all that time. And think about 250 years of outright, state supported slavery, and then 150 year of state sponsored segregation and Jim Crow and racism. And think about how, when black Americans stood up and peacefully marched for their rights 60 years ago, how the leader of that movement was assassinated, despite his pledge of nonviolence. And think about the countless black bodies oppressed and murdered by the state in the form of the police. And then, after you’ve read and thought and studied: try to understand the pent up rage and emotion coming to the forefront.

Dr King once wrote, “300 years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.” Truer words have never been spoken. Remember Black Wall Street today. Show your support for protesters across this country by marching in solidarity and showing those in power they cannot continue to destroy and kill the people they rely on for their power and authority. The actions of the police and authorities across this country over the last 48 hours is a continuation of the violence found at the end of a slave driver’s whip, at the back of a segregated bus, in the streets of north Tulsa, in the trigger finger of a rifleman taking aim at Dr King. It’s all the same and it can’t go on.