June was an eventful month. It raised some interesting questions.
Early this month, Rachel Anne Dolezal, the Executive Director of the Spokane, Washington NAACP chapter came under fire because she claimed to be an African American woman but was in fact a white woman of German and Scandinavian decent. The revelation of her race came at the hands of her parents, who stated that she was white and produced pictures and a birth certificate to prove it. At first, the firestorm was led by white commentators who focused on her fraud and then the Black intelligentsia condemned her for putting on “black face” and commandeering the Black experience, which does not belong to her.
On June 17th, a 21 year old white male entered the sanctuary of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina and killed nine African Americans after worshiping with them during a bible study. He stated during the shootings that he did it because Blacks were raping “our” women and that they should leave “his” country. Two days later at his bond hearing, the families of those he killed said in open court that they forgave him and that they would pray for his repentance.
It has been said that race in America is complicated and nuanced. This month proves it. The Dolezal incident challenges the definition of race. Liberals, while condemning her, exposed their hypocrisy on the issue of race. If race, as they have argued, is a social construction and not about biology, then why can’t a white women bond with Black culture and be Black? If the injustices of racism are socially contrived then her biological race should not make a difference. The bottom line is that race is not just socially defined.
On the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” The families of those nine people killed represent the heart and best of the Christian faith. It’s about the simplicity and bravery and humility of the individual knowing life is not about me but it’s about the redemption of mankind through the blood of Jesus and that all people have a right to that redemption upon the asking, regardless of what they have done. Rather than focusing on that, commentary focused on why Blacks are always the ones doing the forgiving of white injustice. There is truth in the question, but the more interesting question is raised by many white conservative commentators who admitted that they could not do the same. The question is, why not?
On June 22nd, the Governor of South Carolina, Nikki R. Haley, with Lindsey Graham (a Tea Party republican before there was a Tea Party) standing next to her, publicly called for the removal of the confederate flag from the capital building of South Carolina. But she exposes a sad reality: Why did it take the death of the nine for conservative republicans in a republican state to admit that the confederate flag is a symbol of oppression and racism and that it should be removed from the capital of the state.
The shootings raise another issue. There was universal condemnation of the racist killer and sympathy for the families of the nine African Americans across the nation and the political spectrum. But did the families of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, John Crawford and Freddie Gray, to name a few, cry any less. Unlike the nine, these deaths did not receive universal sympathy and outrage. The shootings in Charleston expose a bitter truth: All lives are not equal and they all don’t matter. Perhaps the slogan should be innocent Black lives matter, not Black lives matter. This bitter truth says less about race in America than it does about what the Bible says about the heart of mankind – it is deceitfully wicked and it seeks to do evil continually. Thus the purpose of Jesus, as the families of the nine have taught us. Amen to them.
Dr. Arthur Garrison is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Kutztown University. This piece is the work of Dr. Garrison and does not reflect the opinions or Kutztown University or its faculty, staff, students or alumni.
