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A perfect storm of tragedy and fear

A perfect storm of tragedy and fear

The George Zimmerman verdict has exposed a perfect storm in American life: a legal reality that continues to expand the definition of self defense; "stand your ground" laws that invite the proliferation of gun violence – and the chronic, and sometimes acute, cultural disease of racism.

The verdict also exposed the limitations of our legal system; which must work within the framework of the laws it is charged to enforce. Laws are meant to protect all people. Sometimes laws are drawn to protect segments of the population from the assumed threat by others. Those laws are rooted in fear. And often tinged with latent or outright racism. Technically, the law in the Zimmerman case was followed; but for so many it does not feel that justice has been served.

Our challenge as Christians is to stand with the living Christ in the face of the storms of injustice and witness for hope and equity. There are many ways to do that, but the outcome of this case suggests at least two.

One is to continue to work for a reduction in gun violence. On every level. From video games to gun buyback programs to advocating for lower magazine capacity on firearms to challenging police departments to limit their firearm purchases to companies willing to cease production of lethal firearms that even the military doesn't need. There is widespread support for universal background checks, but well financed forces are ruthless in applying whatever leverage is available to make sure these background checks don't happen. We need to keep at this. Our Justice Board is engaged in assisting congregations and communities to find ways to be involved in this work.

And we can deal more directly with the scourge of racism. The Episcopal Church in general, and the Diocese of Newark in particular, have long been champions of anti-racism dialogues. This is not a self righteous enterprise in which we cast aspersions on the racism of others, but rather one in which we drill down to find out how racism and prejudice – how this insidious sin, works in our own lives. President Obama has recently spoken about how dispiriting prejudice and racism was for him as a young man; how it is getting better – but that it is still a stain on the national soul.

All of us have been taught religious, cultural or racial prejudice. Some of us learned it in school. Or on the playground. Or at the dinner table. Maybe even in church.

The anti-racism dialogues help us discover when and how we learned prejudice, which often morphs into the toxic disease of racism – and how it influences our thoughts, actions and words. Anti-racism dialogue exposes our blindness and opens our eyes so that we are in a better position to open our hearts to one another with grace, rather than have them closed off by fear.

"Do not stand idly by," a charge from the Book of Leviticus (19:16) is the rallying metaphor for the reduction in gun violence activity that many congregations are involved in through New Jersey Together, a regional community organizing initiative. It is an opportunity for engagement. It invites participation in a covenant. The next Anti-Racism Dialogue is being offered at Episcopal House on September 20 and 21 (information and registration can be found here).

Our work – and our witness, are needed.

Comments

Thank you Mark. We have come along way, but there is still a distance to go. We are approaching the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have Dream" speech. May that dream continue to light our path towards true healing and reconciliation.

Mr. Beckwith,

You mention the stand your ground statutes in your commentary as if this was part of the defense strategy, or had some causative effect resulting in the death of an innocent young black male.
The stand your ground law wasn't even brought into the case by the defence, and had nothing to do with Mr Zimmermans acquittal. The defence and subsequent acquittal was purely as a result of following long established self defense statutes. Mr. zimmerman was attacked as he was walking away from the "victim".

This is according to the evidence presented at the trial!

The truth is that Mr Zimmerman is the victim of Racism in that the initial reaction of the police was to find no reason to file charges. It was only after the news media grabbed hold of the story and colored it as a racial incident and distorted the facts to fit their prejudices and sensationalize it as a major news story that pressure was put on the prosecutor to file charges that turned out to be unfounded.
Is it not prejudice to automatically assume that racism is at the root of an incident when there is a confrontation between two individuals of different ethnicities?
Is it racism when the news media alters 911 audio tapes to make it appear that racist comments were made by zimmerman?

The root of the word prejudice is to pre judge. Everyone makes decisions every day by utilizing their past experiences to establish a knowledgeable reaction, expectation, or course of action to any number of decisions they are confronted with in daily life. In order to make an informed decision all the facts must be considered. When the facts presented to an individual are purposefully distorted in an attempt to mislead, the resultant decision is flawed to varying degrees.
I am not confining these daily decisions to race, but also to everyday decisions from what to eat, financial decisions, work priorities,routes to take/avoid, any number of ordinary and extraordinary decisions one is confronted with.
As far as gun violence go's. The gun is an extension of a persons physical and mental attributes. To some extent it is an equalizer of physical defence to an otherwise defenceless individual that could be prey to a more physically endowed predator, whether it is an animal or another person.
This thought brings us back to Mr. Zimmerman, Who most likely would have been dead or severely beaten by a more physically endowed individual (with a documented criminal background of violence, theft, and drug use) if he didn't have the gun to defend himself.
As part of the initial investigation of Mr. zimmerman to inquire about any proclivity to prejudice or racism on his part, no evidence to support these charges could be found by the investigators.

I submit to you that perhaps you should take a good look at yourself in regard to prejudice, and try to determine what it is in you that would cause you to try to paint an admittedly bad situation into a racially charged anti gun tirate by presenting misleading information by innuendo to support your prejudices.
You are entitled to your viewpoint. However if you are going to color the facts and use your position of prominence in the religious community to mislead the general public, perhaps You are part of the problem.

I see the problem as being a socioeconomic problem perpetuated by constantly pontificating to the lower educated economically constrained people in our society that they are victims (not blacks or whites, but all lower income people), and they can't make it in our society because someone else won't let them. This continual onslaught of being told that they are victims, and that they can't make it on their own leads to frustration, anger, violence, poor self esteem, and low need achievement. Unfounded charges of racism, prejudice, persecution, helplessness,victimization, Etc, Ensures that there will always be an underclass. The true racist is the one that helps perpetuate this frame of mind under the auspices of being their benefactor. This segment of society would benefit much more from a hand up, rather than a handout.Self sufficiency rather than dependency.

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