Joint Statement:
by the Minnesota Council of Churches
and Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.
The Executive Director of the Minnesota Council of Churches
(MCC), the Rev. Curtiss DeYoung, D.Min, and the Rev. Iva
Carruthers, D.Min, general secretary of the Samuel DeWitt
Proctor Conference, Inc. (SDPC), said today that unless the
systemic issues that are the foundation of racism in this
country are addressed, the fallout of the horrific
death of George Floyd at the knees of the Minneapolis Police
Department will only further erode the illusion of democracy
and its catastrophic undoing from within.
Both DeYoung and Carruthers stressed that the black
community has been weary for a long time, as
state-sanctioned violence results in few arrests and
convictions of police officers. In spite of what seems to be
clear evidence of wrongdoing by law enforcement officers
substantiated by videos, officers – predominantly white –
have walked free, causing deep anger. They note that
officers are supported in what they do by a corrupt system,
which remains in place. Though there is justified anger
levied against the offending officers, it is the system
which has to change, they declared.
DeYoung has been on the streets with the protesters in
Minneapolis, where, he said, the intense anger is matched
equally with deep grief. In a statement, the MCC asked faith
leaders to help address the anger and grief by urging people
to respond to the crisis by their presence, by and through
protesting, by pushing for prosecution of the officers, and
through prayers.
Quoting scripture, the MCC statement said that the question,
“‘How long?’ …is emanating once again from Minneapolis and
the rest of the nation with the police killing of George
Floyd. He was killed while screaming, ‘Please, I can’t
breathe!’”
“How long will the killing of African Americans by police
officers continue?” the statement said. "The brutal attacks
on black bodies is not acceptable.”
Yet, the killings will continue until the system is changed,
said Carruthers and DeYoung. “This is America’s history; it
is in America’s DNA,” expressed Carruthers. “It has its
roots in historic legal decisions, including the Dred
Scott decision, Plessy v Ferguson, and the 1954 Brown
v Board of Education decision. White people in this
country have long sought and benefited from the oppression
of black people and have also invested in their belief that
blacks are inferior to whites. Just looking at how that
officer kept his knee on the neck of George Floyd for all
that time made it clear that he did not consider Floyd to be
a human being worthy of being treated as such. In this
country, whites in law enforcement are allowed to
consistently violate the human rights of black people and in
so doing, they evidence their own inhumanity. And, that’s
what we have to address and change.”
Carruthers noted that when these incidents occur, law
enforcement works to criminalize and further dehumanize the
victim – as a way of justifying what they have done. “It is
a pattern. We saw it when Trayvon Martin was killed, when
Michael Brown was killed, and Philando Castile was killed,
and we are seeing it as the media tells the stories of the
murders of Armaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and now, George
Floyd. These officers do what they do because the
system allows them to do it, and they are rarely afraid of
being held accountable,” she said.
“The African American community is not whining. We are not
making up our reality. The racism in this country is deeply
entrenched in everything – especially and including its laws
and its legal system. Work has to be done to change the system. Until
that is done, these tragic killings are going to continue.”
DeYoung said that it was strikingly apparent that even as
people gathered on the streets of Minneapolis to protest,
“they were still trying to obey the rules by wearing face
masks. Community leaders were encouraging the protests but
were also saying to them, “Don’t bring COVID into our
communities.”
In Plessy v Ferguson, dissenting US Supreme Court
Judge Marshall Harlan said that the Constitution was “color
blind.” That assertion, said Carruthers, is not true and has
never been true. In spite of amendments that have helped
African Americans enjoy rights and privileges written in the
Constitution, those who run governments have successfully
ignored the Constitution whenever they have wanted to and
have not been concerned about consequences to African
Americans or other communities.
“If these officers are not indicted, brought to trial,
convicted, and given sentences commensurate with the
vile act of Floyd’s tragic murder, the police department
will have blood on its hands,” Carruthers and DeYoung
agreed. “The first step in addressing the inhumane injustice
of the justice system will be to hold these officers
accountable. George Floyd, a young man, unarmed, suspected
of forgery, who did not resist arrest and... who should not
be dead. And that is what the system is going to have to
address. We pray that God intervenes and brings justice to
this man’s family and to his community,” they said.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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