Pausing to Remember

Pausing to remember — three young men and the February events that profoundly changed their lives. This history we’re making in 21st century America, rooted in the history of our ancestors — those who’ve lived, loved, and endured before us. Interlaced within these stories are common threads that connect us to the past, of racial violence and intimidation frustratingly similar to the stories of 50 years ago and beyond. These festering wounds of injustice and intolerance laid bare once again.

February 23, 2020

Pausing to remember the life and death of Ahmaud Arbery. One year ago, on February 23, 2020, this 25-year-old black man selected the wrong Georgia neighborhood to jog through on his afternoon run. Wrong because in this neighborhood he would cross paths with three men who believed it was their right to serve as the judge, jury, and executioner of his life. Hunted down and cornered, Ahmaud’s encounter with these men would end tragically. Were it not for a video of the altercation that surfaced several months later, the events of that day would likely have never come to light.

February 24, 2019

Pausing to remember another young black man, Jaylan Butler. He was returning home on a bus from a swim meet with his college team on February 24, 2019. 19-year-old Butler immediately knew what to do when he found himself surrounded by police officers with guns drawn at a rest stop on the Illinois interstate. His father had taught him well — drop to your knees, arms up. Equally important, the white coach of his swim team and the bus driver rushed to his aid. They spoke on his behalf and helped to diffuse the tense and dangerous situation. Jaylan, at 5’ 10” and 160 pounds, was not the 6’ 6”, 230 pound suspect police were seeking, but he was the same skin color. Eventually Jaylan was released. Thankfully he survived, however the terror of that day will live on in his psyche. The same terror and trauma woven into the collective psyche of poor, marginalized, minority communities across our land. Where falsely accused individuals all too often lack an advocate to speak on their behalf, caught up in a system that disproportionately penalizes the poor.

February 26, 2012

Pausing to remember the life and death of Trayvon Martin. At 17 years-of-age this black teenager became the face of the social justice movement over the last decade. Sadly, he was killed on February 26, 2012 while walking home from a convenience store. He was shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who thought Trayvon looked suspicious in his hoodie, pulled up due to the rain. Whatever transpired between Trayvon and George on that Florida evening, the tragic result was the death of a teenage boy. George Zimmerman chose to carry a handgun that day and he chose to follow Trayvon after being instructed by the police operator “we don’t need you to do that.” He would stand trial for the death of Trayvon and was found not guilty partially due to Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. But who was standing their ground against whom?

*****

Pausing to remember all who are effected by the inequities of this flawed world. How we respond to the indignities experienced by fellow citizens and neighbors of all ethnicities and economic standing is an indicator of the moral health of a nation. The covert, and sometimes overt, stripping away of rights and freedoms of our most vulnerable, by the very institutions created to serve and protect, erodes our democracy and tarnishes our standing as a just, fair, and compassionate people.

Come, let us pause and grieve together — dream together, of a brighter, kinder, more just and loving future. 

*****

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King Jr.

“learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭ESV‬‬