Remembering George Floyd:   

It’s Fire This Time

“Can a man take fire in his bosom and not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27)

I grew up in church. Specifically, evangelical churches. I am a proud follower of Jesus. I am also at an age where I have the privilege of seeing “Then” vs “Now”. It’s a privilege that brings me pain: for what I thought the Christian gospel was (then); and because what I thought to be true has—certainly in the west—been hijacked and packaged as a twisted, racist, ineffectual parody of itself (now).

            As the world-changing fallout from George Floyd’s murder has grown, so has my pain. I will share it with you in this series of 5 blogs.

Let’s start with the too-little-too-late pronouncements now being made by some evangelical leaders using their Big Microphones to decry the killing of George Floyd. You know from previous blogs what I mean by Big Microphones. Its access to the media that amplify voices and views leaders care about. In the Right Wing of the evangelical world these views have for last 15 years been reduced to three basic issues: abortion, same-sex marriage and fulmination against Barack Obama and his legacy. 

            Out of respect I won’t reference individuals as only God is judge. But here is one of those voices: "The needless and tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the much deeper systemic issues towards African American people that his death has highlighted, must lead to radical and permanent change. Racism must stop, and my prayer is that this moment in history will be a moment of lasting equality, transformation and change…”

            ‘Then’ I would say “Yes! The Church has weighed in!” 'Now', here’s what I ask: So if you think racism must end, what have you been saying about mass incarceration of Black men by a system that robs their children of fathers; their families of economic sustenance; and their communities of lifeblood? What did you say when Blacks complained publicly for years of being targeted, profiled and harassed by gun-toting White supremacists or even by their own neighbors? Where was your Microphone when Police killed countless other unarmed Black people—and got away with it?

Where was your Big Microphone when the U.S. Courts freed George Zimmerman after his racism-fueled slaying of Trayvon Martin? What did you preach in church the following Sunday morning? What did you say to your Black members who hurt and to your White members with Little (Racial) Microphones that could have made a difference in their own spheres of influence?’

            Here’s another pronouncement, from Pat Robertson of the 700 Club. Speaking to his President (the same President he has had no qualms endorsing and influencing countless evangelicals to endorse) he says: “It seems like now is the time to say, ‘I understand your pain, I want to comfort you, I think it’s time we love each other…But the president took a different course. He said, ‘I am the president of law and order’. You just don’t do that, Mr. President. It isn’t cool!”

            

This isn’t cool? Is that the best you can muster on your Microphone, Mr. Robertson? Now is the time to understand Black people's pain? Really? You are now 90 years old and have run a Christian T.V. show since 1966. How many Black Lives Matter representatives have you hosted? What did you say when this cry of Black people’s pain came under attack from your fellow Religious Right proponents, including Whites countering that ‘all lives matter’? Compared to resources you have spent fighting abortion and gay marriage, how much have you spent challenging the systems that have been on the necks of Black people for the past 60 years—not to mention the last 400?

            If I may remind you Mr. Robertson, in my mind, when the wise man Solomon speaks of fire in the bosom, he speaks also of the snake hatchlings Microphones like yours have coddled in support of the systems that are now eating away at the very freedoms you and the rest of us hold dear. 

           I would say to you and the others whose hearts are now “failing (because of) for fear” (Luke 21:26), the ‘Law and Order’ President you elected has nurtured the hatchlings to full growth. He and others like him have unleashed the firestorm that began as little flames of red flags you held to your bosom.

            And I would point you to somewhere in the Great Beyond where African American author James Baldwin is nodding, sadly. Nearly 60 years ago in his critically acclaimed book The Fire Next Time he warned us of the fire to come, unless racism is checked.

            The next time, Mr. Robertson, is now.

In Solidarity.