Last Sunday morning,
because of the outrage raging through our cities, which quickly turned violent,
I decided to celebrate another Mass, even though we had celebrated and live
streamed the Saturday evening Mass. I expressed how I want to believe that the
violent people looting and damaging property are separate from the people who
are simply saying “enough” to the police brutality and oppression of black
people in this country. I don’t know that for a fact, and there are video clips
and pictures that could frame a story either way. There are probably more than
two sides, and probably several underlying interests seeking further division
in our country. Therefore, let us remain peaceful with each other, and let us
converse with peace.
While I am glad that the
peaceful protests are clearly raising awareness to the grave sin of social
injustice in matters of race, I am also saddened by the people who say that
there is no racism, and I am angered by the looters who are stealing from
businesses and damaging property of innocent people.
Last Sunday morning we
celebrated Pentecost, which is a feast with overtones about diversity because
in the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, we heard about how the
disciples by the gift of the Holy Spirit were speaking in the languages of many
nations, and foreigners could hear God being praised in their own native
tongue.
I am grateful to this
country for welcoming my family and I as immigrants, and for allowing us to
make it our home. When people ask me, “when are you going home?” and they mean
“Colombia,” I explain that this country is my home now. For certain neighbors
it has taken them longer to welcome my family and I, but overall I have
experienced that an overwhelming majority of people in this country truly do
not care about the color of the skin of others.
Therefore the people who
question the Black Lives Matter movement are not necessarily racist when they
say that White Lives Matter too. I agree that all lives matter. We are all
created in God’s image. What the protests are trying to say is that it happens
too often that law enforcement kills an unarmed black man. What begins in a
simple questioning, escalates into excessive use of force, and often ends in
the killing of the person. This happens again and again to black men around
this country, much like Mass shootings happen again and again every year or
every other year.
I think that such a
phenomenon behooves us in asking why it happens, and thinking deeply beyond our
own individual views, which can easily excuse us by saying “I’m not racist, so
I’m OK.” Perhaps one place to look into is how Police officers are trained and
later assigned, and whether there are community relations established in urban
areas where the minority are white people, and what policies are in place
regarding accountability and transparency when wrongdoing occurs. Nowadays
cameras are playing a big role into transparency. What else could there be?
I also try to put myself
in the shoes of police officers. I try to understand that in a high adrenaline
situation it is very easy for officers to overreact. In such situations, they
are trying to protect their life. I admire police officers for the work they
do. The question I have is whether there are policies in place that will help
prevent police abuse of power, and accountability once abuse has been
committed.
The Catholic Church has
been working on the very same problem of preventative procedures and better
accountability and transparency when it comes to sexual abuse of minors, so I
am hopeful that if the Church could face its own demons that Police departments
will be able to do so as well.
In Christ, Fr. Carlos, OSA
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