We all want peace, but it cannot come without justice. Our nation is at the same crossroads we have been at for many years, standing idle, unable to decide the path to take. I wish I could say that it was simply a lack of courage or resolve, but it is not. There is a sickness deep in the soul of our country that will take more than courage to heal. It is a sickness that leads an armed, trained, officer of the law to kneel on the neck of an unarmed, handcuffed man, extinguishing his life, while his partners look on, all hearing his cries, ignoring his pleas for breath.
Today we live with the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many others. We are seeing protests, civil unrest, riots, and vandalism. On one hand, I understand the disbelief I hear from some in the community about the rationale of such a response. Why counter violence with violence? Why would some people take advantage of a peaceful protest and cause harm, vandalism, and theft? If we want it to cease, then we must not dismiss the actions of some of the rioters as simple profiteering on the part of a criminal element.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
I was living in Los Angeles when riots broke out after Rodney King was brutally beaten by the police, and then again when the officers were not held legally responsible. These moments share a driver which our own Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. unpacked over 50 years ago: ”Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots ... as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.”
Dr. King’s words read like a prophecy. The sickness we struggle with is racism. Our country cannot seem to move forward into a blessed and meaningful future without dragging this social illness along with us. However, there are things we can do. Firstly, we must give our police departments the mandate and tools to root out the sort of element that could allow for this brutality. In speaking with one of our synagogue family members, a police officer here in Atlanta, this officer clearly stated that his department and others are of like mind – they deplore this sort of behavior, understanding that “nobody hates a bad cop more than a good cop.” We must insist that sheriff candidates seeking elected office and other elected officials articulate a plan, ensuring that each and every citizen in our country will be treated, regardless of the situation, with dignity and care by our law enforcement agencies, remembering that they are sworn to guard and protect us, and to uphold the rights of our country’s citizens regardless of color or ethnicity.
Secondly, we each need to work on our own souls, ensuring that we understand our implicit bias, our own prejudices, fears, and intolerances.
Thirdly, we need to be better listeners. There are large groups of people in America who cry out for justice and fairness in our systems of government, law, business, healthcare, and education, but their claims are dismissed as nonsense. They are not speaking nonsense. They are speaking from their truth, their reality and we must be open to hearing it, regardless of how uncomfortable it feels to shake our own consciousness. Our great country cannot move forward without us all doing our part. The peace in our society relies on it. The balance of the universe depends on it.
These three steps, however important, are largely invisible and communities of color need our presence, not just our prayers, thoughts, and concerns. How can we be more visible in our partnership with them for equality, justice, and peace?
With blessings, strength and hope.
Laurence Rosenthal is a Rabbi in Atlanta. He is president of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association.
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