Photo Courtesy of RealTimesMedia
Baltimore
A Baltimore woman protesting the police custody death of Freddie Gray lies down to hold a poster condemning America's law enforcement system.
Like most Americans, I have been horrified by the rioting this week in Baltimore after the police custody death of Freddie Gray. Here's what I have to say about it:
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Our family has been the only white family on our street for more than 20 years. We've been blessed with wonderful neighbors who happen to be black and Hispanic. More than once they've been neighborly enough to stop break-ins at our home while suffering similar crimes at their own.
As a result of these experiences, I don't consider myself qualified to give any opinions about what black people, Latino people, Asian people, Pacific Islander people or any other race or ethnicity ought to do. I've never been stopped regularly for DWB (Driving While Black), like a former co-worker who scrimped and saved to buy his own BMW and live in an upscale neighborhood. I've never been followed around an upscale department store by security, like another former co-worker, just because of my skin color. I've never had to have "The Talk" with our son about how to cower to law enforcement like my black friends have had with their sons. And while I've come to know what it's like to suffer economic deprivation, I still can't speak to the added burden of being poor AND a person of color who's viewed as a "parasite" on society by certain politicians and bureaucrats.
Here's what I can say about this week's news from Baltimore: I follow Jesus, who taught that love of God and of neighbor are the ultimate good. Loving my neighbors, whatever their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, politics, theology, or any other defining characteristic, requires that I listen to what THEY say they need. If they need a coat, I give them my coat, my hat and my gloves. If they need someone to take them a mile down the road, I take them two miles. If they're hungry or thirsty, I feed them. If they're sick, I tend them. If they're lonely or grieving or scared, I comfort them. If they need shelter, I find them a place to stay. If they tell me I'm complicit in a system that oppresses them, then I am complicit. So I must do whatever it takes to uproot the systems that leave people – any people, all people – in need, without power and respect.
The only time I speak up is when I encounter evil being done to another person, and then my calling is not first to talk or to fight, but to put myself, mind, soul and body, between them and harm. To offer love instead of hate, to try my best to speak and live peace. That's what dozens of believers, including some United Methodist clergy I'm proud to call my friends, did this week in Baltimore. That's the example I intend to follow as we continue our journey toward a world that truly lives out God's love and justice.
A veteran religion journalist and a certified spiritual director, Cynthia B. Astle serves as coordinator of United Methodist Insight.