The Message We Need

With the unfolding of events over the last several days we've been inundated with analysis, articles, photos, meme's, and 24/7 coverage.  It becomes difficult to sift through all the narratives.

I've previously posted articles on this blog from a Priest who served our church many years ago.   I think this is his best, exactly at the time I (and maybe you) need it.  He is as wise as they come.  His message today is frankly, from my perspective, the best writing I've seen about our current troubles.  He presents a calm, hopeful, fair and ultimately uplifting message that I would expect, but don't always get, from clergy.

Lessons Learned on the Civil Unrest

The first thing I usually do when I awake in the morning is to check the internet for any news updates. For the last several days, the EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review) has sent out announcements that read: “Due to civil unrest, the [city] immigration court will be closed today.” Imagine that, even federal courts have had to shut down because of all the turmoil in the country.

We are going through a horrific period in American history – not the worst by far – but horrific, nonetheless. Cities are war zones, police are being shot and killed, stores, cars and buildings are burned, vandalized and looted, the estimated rebuilding cost is in the billions of dollars, and even churches are not immune to attack – St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City was desecrated and St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square in Washington was set on fire with the “F” word graffitied on church walls. If you are like me, you suffer from a broken heart.

As it happened, in my Morning Prayer on today, Psalm 46 was one of the readings. This was Martin’s Luther’s favorite psalm, and he wrote “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” based upon it. I commend it to you as we pray for our country:

God is our refuge and strength, 

a very present help in trouble. 

Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be moved, 

and though the mountain be toppled into the depths of the sea; 

Though its waters rage and foam, 

and though the mountains tremble at its tumult. 

The Lord of hosts is with us; 

the God of Jacob is our stronghold. 

I want to offer ten lessons that may help us get through these tumultuous times. 

First, there is wide agreement in the country that George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, while three other police officers looked on but did nothing. This is such a clear-cut case of murder that the District Attorney could have filed murder charges almost immediately. The fact that he waited until Friday precipitated the anger, rage and suspicion that has led to civil unrest. How different things might be now if by Tuesday Officer Chauvin was charged with murder, arrested and put in jail without bond.

Moreover, the Murder 3 charge is too low – the officer should be charged with Murder 1 – there was clear intent to kill. I will not go through the details of why Murder I is justified, but as one prosecutor told me recently, you always aim high in the initial charge. In this case, the prosecutor aimed too low – a bare minimum. Sadly, the District Attorney is incompetent. So, it is not surprising that the Attorney General of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, has taken over the case.

Second, the good news for the Floyd family is that they have retained an excellent civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, to represent them in collecting damages against the City of Minneapolis. No one can bring back the life of a loved one so cruelly murdered, but at least there will be compensation for a grieving family. I would expect the compensation to be in the millions of dollars. 

Third, racism is a sin. I should not have to remind any Christians that God hates prejudice, discrimination, and any kind of racial superiority. Every human being is made in the image of God, and therefore deserving of equal treatment under law. A question that needs to be asked is, “If George Floyd was white, would the police officer have treated him in the same way?” The answer is definitely not. He might have been handcuffed, but he would not have been forced to the ground with the police office putting his knee on Mr. Floyd’s throat. The officer was treating Mr. Floyd like a wild animal and not as a human being who posed no physical threat. 

Fourth, racism is embedded in the United States – and we have to deal with it. This is very painful to write, because there are many good things about America, and for all our problems, millions still want to come to this country, but few want to leave it. And yet, for all our progress on race, we continue to live with the vestiges of slavery and segregation. 

We need to remind ourselves that slavery came to the American colonies in 1619 and was only abolished after a Civil War that cost up to 750,000 lives. After the war, Reconstruction was an attempt bring about equality between blacks and whites in the southern states, but that was halted after President Grant left office. With the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1892) ruling that “separate but equal” was constitutional, we legalized segregation – separate water fountains, separate schools, separate passenger railway cars, separate sections on buses and in restaurants. Even in northern states, blacks and whites lived in separate neighborhoods and mostly attended separate schools. 

Only in 1954 did Brown v. Board of Education rule “separate but equal” unconstitutional, but it would not go quietly into that good night. The southern states resisted, and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy had to use federal troops to ensure blacks went to the schools of their choice. In the 1960’s, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, then the Voting Right Act, and then the Fair Housing Act to undo vestiges of discrimination – and still there was resistance. Northern states resisted busing that would have allowed black and white children to attend the same schools. Affirmative action also came under attack that would have ensured black representation in our colleges, universities and workplaces. 

By 2020 we have made considerable progress as a nation. We have had a black President, 13 percent of Congress is non-white, and even South Carolina (the first state to secede from the Union) now has a black United States Senator, Tim Scott, who one day, I hope, will be President. We have black mayors of some of our nation’s most important cities – Chicago and Atlanta, for example. There is still, however, a long way to go – and no where has this become more evident than in our policing of black communities. We need to do better – better recruitment, better training, better oversight of police. 

Finally, I don’t know if reparations for slavery is a viable answer to the race problem in America. The cost for meaningful reparations might be as much as 14 trillion dollars. Then, there is the question of other disadvantaged groups in America, such as Hispanics and poor whites in rural areas – do we include them? Perhaps the answer is a just society for everyone, however we get to that goal.

Fifth, as bad as the present civil unrest is, it has been much worse at other times in our history. Here are some of the worst riots in recent times:

• Watts, Los Angeles, August 11 – 16, 1965 – There were six days of rioting and looting that resulted in 34 deaths and 3,500 arrests.

• Newark, New Jersey, July 12-17, 1967 – The riot was prompted by police beating a black cab driver by the name of John Smith. There was massive property destruction and looting resulting in 26 people dead and hundreds injured. This was the “beginning of the end” of Newark as a great city (its’ school system was one of the best in the country) and a massive exodus of white people to the suburbs. 

• Detroit, July 23 – 27, 1967 – There were 43 deaths, 2,000 buildings destroyed, and 7,300 people arrested. Similar to Newark, this was the beginning of the end of the once great motor city and resulted in a “white flight” to the suburbs.

• Los Angeles, April 29 – May 4 – This was the riot in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating by police officers caught on camera, and the subsequent acquittal of all the police officers at trial. 63 people died in this riot.

What is happening now on the streets of our cities is heartbreaking, but let’s keep our perspective: compared to other incidences of civil unrest, the loss of life in these disturbances has been very low. In fact, as I write this, there are more police deaths than protestors or rioters. 

Sixth, there is enough blame to go around for everyone – no one comes off looking good. The Mayor of Minneapolis ordered police to abandon a precinct rather than defend it, resulting in its complete destruction. This sent a signal to rioters that they could engage in burning and looting with impunity. The Mayor of New York allowed stores and buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan to be vandalized and looted, with police doing little or nothing – almost a thousand stores destroyed – and all the while the Mayor claimed it was “peaceful protest.” Even Governor Cuomo had to take issue with the Mayor. The President meanwhile gave an excellent speech on Saturday at NASA, but too few Americans heard it. Unfortunately, some of his other rhetoric and tweets have been acerbic and not helpful to calming the situation. 

It is easy for us to become highly partisan in this situation. We need to resist that tendency. When the civil unrest ends, there will be time to examine what went right and wrong, and what government can do better to respond to an incendiary situation. For now, I would remind all of us what St. Paul said in Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – we are all sinners, fallible, prone to mistakes, with hearts less than pure. The great Russian Alexandre Solzhenitsyn put it best when he said, “The line between good and evil runs through every human heart.” We all need a little more humility and a willingness to engage in self-examination about our rhetoric.

Seventh, we are living in a post-modern world where very little of cable news reporting – CNN, MSNBC and Fox – reflects the truth. News reporting has become opinion, spin, and commentary under the pretense of being objective. “Truth” is what we say it is and how we understand it or want it be. It is “truth” from a particular perspective to further a particular purpose. Frankly, I believe cable news does more to endanger democracy in America than any other institution.

St. Paul referred to the devil as “the father of lies.” The devil will always try to distort the truth, mislead and misinform, all under the pretense of being fair, objective and reasonable. All of us might do well to read George Orwell’s 1984 or Animal Farm – even back in the late 1940’s Orwell understood the dangers of our modern technological age. You might also read C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man – a somewhat dated titled but the book zeroes in on the modern age and its dangers. We are becoming more divided in America now than perhaps at any time since before the Civil War, and cable news and the internet are largely responsible.

Eight, we can all affirm the right of Americans to protest racial injustice. Most of the protestors are doing just that – protesting racism in America as reflected in the murder of George Floyd. God bless them for their passion for justice. I remember Pope Paul VI saying, “If you want peace, then work for justice.” Without justice, a society will never enjoy peace. 

Unfortunately, in addition to legitimate protestors, there are two other groups – anarchists and looters. I hope we will all agree that breaking windows, setting fires and stealing goods is not acceptable or justifiable under any circumstances. It doesn’t take many people for a legitimate protest to go bad – Lenin said it took only five or ten percent to change the entire thrust of a protest. In the present case, it is more likely 20 or 30 percent. The tragedy is, that a good cause can get subverted by a minority, and the focus is no longer on the original injustice (the murder of George Floyd) but on stopping civil unrest. 

The good news is that the President does have the authority to go after these bad apples – whether they be Antifa or some other groups. While the President cannot legally and unilaterally declare Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, the Department of Justice has many legal tools to prosecute such groups, including use of RICO – Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act. RICO has been used to combat organized crime, and even to go after corrupt labor leaders, but it can be used wherever a group is organized to commit crime. In addition, the President can use the Insurrection Act to call up the military to take charge of uncontrollable situations if state and local officials are unable or unwilling to do so. The Insurrection Act was used by President Eisenhower against Governor Orville Faubus of Arkansas who resisted school desegregation, and President Kennedy used it against Alabama Governor George Wallace. President George H.W. Bush also used it in his time in office.

Ninth, a friend just called me and asked, “Is it possible to be a Republican or a conservative, and be a member of the Episcopal Church?” I was startled by the question and answered, “Of course, it is – we welcome everyone.” She replied, “But when I see the Bishop of Washington attacking my President but not saying a word of criticism against the arsonists who tried to burn down St. John’s Episcopal Church, I am concerned that the bias in our church is making it increasingly difficult for me to remain.” I understood her concern, but I did point out Presiding Bishop Curry’s much more balanced statement about the President standing in front of St. John’s Church. I also said that not all bishops – and certainly not all clergy – think alike. The Diocese of Washington is a very liberal diocese, but that is not the norm everywhere. So, to my dear friend and to any of you upset at the reaction of church officials to the President, hang in there and stay with us. There is room for all in the Episcopal Church, and no one is excluded – left or right or middle.

Tenth, what we all need to do – and I hope you are doing it now – is pray for our country that peace and justice will prevail, and that violence and discord will cease. Pray for our leaders – and yes, pray for President Trump. He needs our prayers at this difficult time. Pray also for the governors and mayors who are trying to balance the right of peaceful protest with maintaining public safety and order. We need to lower our voices, listen to one another, and engage in what the late Reuel Howe called, “The Miracle of Dialogue.” As Americans we can find common ground and act on common values to build a just, prosperous and peaceful America where the dignity of every human being is affirmed and the rights of every American are upheld.

The Rev. Dr. Gary Nicolosi

June 2, 2020