Ferguson, Missouri, again and again

I am one among many people who are feeling sadness and anger over recent and ongoing events in Ferguson, Missouri. It is all too easy to get caught up in the countless details that are discussed endlessly on TV news, on the radio and in various social media postings. And these details do matter, but they often keep us distracted from the bigger picture. 

The bigger picture that I'm talking about is the violence that is an inevitable result of systemic racism in our country. As a white man living in a relatively affluent suburb, this violence almost never reaches me--except through second-hand news reports. But, for young black men, this violence and the threat of violence are part of their everyday lives. 

For the parents of young black men, the reality is that they are far likely to lose a son than the parents of white sons. These parents fear for the lives of their sons each and every day. Because we as a nation have not dealt with the evil of racism, these young men continue to face harassment, violence, imprisonment and often death in alarmingly large numbers. And they simply are not receiving equal protection under the law. 

Whatever your personal opinion may be about Michael Brown, he did not deserve to die. Had he been a white teenager in a similar situation, his chances of being shot and killed would have been almost zero. 

When all the smoke has cleared in Ferguson, my hope and my prayer is that we will not hunker down in our homes, afraid and overwhelmed. My hope and my prayer is that we will see this tragic situation for what it is: the horrible price that is being paid over and over again for our failure as a nation to address racism. My hope and my prayer is that we will work together, across lines of race and class, to dismantle systems of racism and oppression and build in their place systems of solidarity and mutual support. 

Until we engage in this hard work, we will not be truly free. In the words of Bernice Johnson Reagon (from "Ella's Song):  

"Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons / Is as important as the killing of White men, White mothers’ sons . . . We who believe in freedom cannot rest."