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It was close to a
perfect storm. It began when a 17-year-old teen’s video of
the killing of a handcuffed black man named George Floyd
while in police custody went viral. The recording captured
the attention of a swelling multitude of racially and
economically diverse young people around the globe who have
declared a boisterous but peaceful, contemporary War against
Racism.
Why now?
Some point to the void created by "bourgeoisification"
of the Black Church. This term illustrates its shift in
focus from civil rights to commercialism, individualism, and
prosperity as a primary goal of faith. Silent during the
death of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Eric
Garner, Sandra Bland and others, the Black Church lost its
authenticity and influence and has, possibly until now, been
irrelevant in developing strategies against structural
racism and white privilege. In the meantime, non-traditional
and non-institutional faith and non-faith groups have
stepped in the gap to promote social justice and provide a
prophetic voice for diverse contexts, especially for those
on the margins. It remains to be seen if the Church, which
has been long absent from "the streets," can again obtain
credibility with "the streets."
Others, meanwhile,
fear that the presence of the darker or more antagonistic
and self-interested sides of human nature are also appearing
in institutions. Systems such as state and local
governments, educational systems and criminal justice
systems with their massive infrastructures including police
departments, prisons, courts, judges, prosecutors and even
public defenders are often (explicitly or implicitly)
narcissistic, psychopathic or Machiavellian bastions of
hatred, racism, and lawlessness operating as cover for white
supremacy or black self-hate. These closed-minded neurotic
structures reveal themselves when their representatives
mouth complementary slogans but assault people of color and
look the other way as others perpetuate acts of hate.
The bottom line is
that people, in the words of the late Fannie Lou
Hamer,
are truly "sick and tired of being tired."
What Do We Get for
our Money?
Following the George Floyd death by
police and the resultant protests, many corporations,
businesses, governments, and individuals have shown
support for Black
Lives Matter and the fight for racial equality. Money
has been
donated, public statements of solidarity have been
announced, racism has been openly denounced, and the
affirmation of black lives has
been publicly
proclaimed.
Yet, if change is to occur, it will take
more than a few donations, public pronouncements, or
slogans.
"Whites are 60 percent of the population
but: 90 percent of Congress, 96 percent of the governors,
1000 percent of top military leaders, president and vice
president; 93 percent of television executives, 83 percent
of teachers, 84 percent of college professors," says
Louisville pastor Kevin Cosby. They also get an obscene
disproportion of the construction and social services
contracts awarded in Toledo and Lucas County.
The truth is that black-led organizations
have the ability to solve the problems that the white
establishment has not been able to move the needle on
despite investing billions into white public governmental
spaces. Black-led organizations continue to be treated like
black people, undervalued and underfunded. Black communities
have been defunded as society has invested massive financial
capital in punitive-based criminal justice systems, public
safety and mass incarceration rather than prevention and
diversion.
Do You Want To Get Well?
If we are
truly committed to real change, we should, first of all,
defund
white
organizations who have an innate need to perpetuate their
own existence rather than bring their clients to an actual
state of wellness, which they feel will eliminate the need
for their services. Instead, invest in black-led
organizations that can produce the powerful positive results
to actually solve the problems which result from the
deep-seated structural
inequities in our society.
Finally, someone told me recently, that
Toledo is still stuck in the 1950s from a policy, funding,
and racial equity standpoint. Many folks (or their exact
template) are in the same positions doing the same things
they were decades ago – erecting barriers and impediments
for minorities; playing favoritism games in funding, policy,
and personnel decisions, handing out discipline in a biased
way. This suggests that we are too far gone to plant a few
cute, shiny initiatives and think that we can harvest
success in public safety, education or the criminal justice
system.
Put up or Shut Up!
What is clear, is that if local
leadership is serious about change, then the time is over
for lip service, talks, and meetings. What we need is top to
bottom systemic reform. We need change. It needs to be
drastic. And, We need it now!
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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