Do All Lives Matter?
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| http://the-daily.buzz/all-lives-matter/ |
The past three
years have been the most challenging in our country as I experience the constant
division between my community and the local police department. Historically,
the relationship between law enforcement and the African American community has
always been contentious. This though seems to have gotten a lot more intense in
these past few years. The death of Michael Brown, the young unarmed African
American male who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri
left the community I’m in filled with anger.
Soon after another
young unarmed African American male was killed by a police officer in Baltimore
Maryland which was followed the next month by another unarmed African American
male in Los Angeles being killed by local law enforcement. It was at this moment
that I began to notice the white conservative Evangelical church at large was completely
silent on this particular issue. It appeared the church was indifferent when it
came to the African American community and the way that law enforcement had
been treating them. There were even some in the church that began to question
whether or not the officers in these incidents were justified with using
extreme force.
A few weeks later,
riots and protests along with large demonstrations began to breakout all over
the country in major metropolitan cities. There was a big growing movement of
young African Americans across the country that began marching in the streets
yelling out “Black Lives Matter!” No soon after we began to hear white Americans
use the term “All Lives Matter.” This was to suggest that we shouldn’t just be
worried about the black lives because black lives don’t matter anymore than any
other ethnicity’s lives would. This made me ask the question to my brothers and
sisters in the conservative white Evangelical church, do black lives really
matter to you if they matter to God? This question was posed to those who would
remain silent on this issue of race and injustice in our country when it came
to law enforcement and the black community. If all lives matter, why do we have
to get the world to pay attention to the black ones by singling them out with
this slogan?
If we are created
in the image of God as the Genesis account would suggest, then why isn’t the
white evangelical church speaking up on my behalf? If as a human being, Jesus
is the perfect image of God and we are in created in God’s image, why then
would an unarmed African American male’s life not matter? If the image to which
Genesis refers is Christ, it might seem appropriate to give a prospective
meaning to the fact that the Genesis verses do not simply say humans are the
image but created “in,” “after,” or “according to” it.[1] Tanner
would suggest that all human beings are created after God’s image. If this is
so, that that would imply that even the black lives that are seemingly meaningless
would have worth. Being a strong image of God would be the destiny that awaits
us in Christ, rather than our original state.
The lives that I
speak about are lives that should matter in our world but more especially in
the church. The image that is portrayed of young African American males are not
the divine image but an image of something less than human. Historically,
images of African American males have been shown as aggressive or animal-like
(monkeys). In the mind of many I would argue is the image of an overly
aggressive individual that is not human but more like a monster. This image
allows excessive force to be used against him without ever seeing his humanity
or God bearing image. As rational or intelligent creatures both humans and
angels are made to cling or cleave to God.[2]
It’s not a new question
that I pose here. In fact, the same argument for the black male’s humanity has
always been the center of discussion in our country. It’s the same argument
from more than 4 decades ago when the African American community being led by
the late Dr. Martin L. King Jr. marched
in the streets of Memphis Tennessee during the sanitation strike holding signs
saying “I am a man.”[3]
Our lives are conformed to the image of Christ through the same power that
conforms the humanity of Christ to the Word. Christ is the visible image of the
invisible God. In Genesis when it says that we were created after God’s image,
it is referring to the second person of the trinity which is Christ. Christ
became human. His humanity was made and fashioned with the same material that
the black man is. When I look at another person I am seeing the image of God.
It’s why Paul could say, “But we all, with uncovered face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Detrick Bonhoeffer
even asks the question who am I? It was a question he needed to ask as he dealt
with the imprisonment by Nazi’s during WWII. He perceived himself as weak, restless,
wrought and beset with doubt. As he pondered this question he take solace in
knowing that whoever he is he belongs to God.[4] Jesus
represents all of humanity. Even in his own righteousness has to prove it
through an authentic human life. His work serves as a redemptive counterpoint
to humanity’s disobedience but also reveals man’s true humanity and what it is
to be created in God’s likeness. In closing I have come to understand that my
freedom in Christ gives me liberation in my dealing with the hard realities of
what I experience as a black male in this society. Liberation is the expression
of the image of God. This not only tells me who God is but it tells me who I am
and who my people are.[5]
End Notes
[1]
Tanner,
Kathryn. Christ the Key. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010),
19-24.
[2]
Ibid
[3]
Honey,
Michael K. Going down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's
Last Campaign. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), 389.
[4]
Plantinga,
Richard J., Thomas R. Thompson, and Matthew D. Lundberg. An Introduction to
Christian Theology. (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2010),
4368.
[5]
Cone,
James H. God of the Oppressed. (New York: Seabury Press, 1975), 134-135.
Bibliography
1. Tanner,
Kathryn. Christ the Key. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010),
19-24.
2. Plantinga,
Richard J., Thomas R. Thompson, and Matthew D. Lundberg. An Introduction to
Christian Theology. (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2010),
4368.
3. Honey,
Michael K. Going down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's
Last Campaign. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), 389.
4. Cone,
James H. God of the Oppressed. (New York: Seabury Press, 1975), 134-135.