I Can’t Breathe

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

HEAVY SIGH.

I'm going to behave tonight, but...

It's hard not to notice those in my timeline who were up in arms when black athletes kneeled during the anthem to peacefully protest police brutality but don't have much to say when police officers are violently kneeling on a black person's neck.

It is heart-wrenching to see people - especially fellow Christians...especially fellow Christian leaders - watch someone be recklessly, violently killed and still "Yes, but..." racial trauma. This is exactly what Dr. King wrote about 50+ years ago in a Birmingham jail: The Christian, "who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice." (He says "white moderate", but he's talking about church folk.) King goes on to finish the thought by saying:

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

White people…especially White Christians…especially White Christian Leaders:

We need your understanding.
We need your empathy.
We need your voice.
We need you to not only speak against racism and systemic injustice when you watch a tragic video.
We need you to do it every day.
We need you to call it out in every corner you find it.

Because we're tired of having to be the ones who do it for you. We're tired of trying to convince you "Black Lives Matter" and having to sit through your whataboutisms. We are worn out from our groaning. All night long we flood our beds with weeping and drench my couch with tears. (Psalm 6:6)

I'm tired of singing "a change is gonna come." I still believe it. But I'm tired.

And I can't breathe.