Broken City - Part 2

For part 1, click here

Many of you may know that one of my favorite people in the whole world was my piano teacher growing up, John Kennedy. In addition to being our church’s music director and patient teacher of little girls, he was also a police officer. My sister and I loved when he showed up for lessons in his full uniform and he would show us all the things that he kept on his utility belt (except his gun, obviously). Thanks to John, I learned from a very young age that cops are kind people who drink barrels of coffee and will help you and protect you.  

Years later, while driving home from a Wednesday night worship service outside Managua, our motorcycle suffered a flat tire a few blocks from the church. All the vulcanizaciones (tire fixing places) were already closed but thankfully Eli’s brother David, the pastor of the church, offered to give us a lift home. We heaved the bike into the back of his truck and piled in among the other 12 people already in the vehicle. About a mile later, as you might expect, the truck also had a flat. Like clowns in a clown car, we streamed out to the side of the road and the more useful among us started to change the tire. A police officer on a motorcycle of his own pulled up behind us.

Everyone immediately tensed up. Even the children got quiet.

We were all as bland and polite as possible but no one breathed until he finally left. In Nicaragua, when the police show up, everything automatically becomes less safe.

I hate that feeling. I hate being afraid of the cops. Cops are good and decent people with families who will give you a turkey for Christmas dinner. Or at least they should be. And it’s all the more reprehensible to me when they are not.

Yesterday, I read the report on the Ferguson Police Department by the Department of Justice. 102 pages of absolute kick you in the teeth lambasting of the FPD. In case you don’t have time to read a 102 page report, I will summarize its contents in 6 words: you guys are greedy, racist, d***s.

I know, depending on your political slant, you may be saying that the Attorney General has an agenda and there are perfectly reasonable explanations for why blacks are stopped more often than whites. Maybe you don’t agree that the whole department is racist. I’m not willing to say that every single person that works there is a racist but it’s also pretty hard to say race was not a factor in their behavior at all. They sic’d their dogs on black people and only black people. On black children. Sickening.

But my point is not to argue for or against the charges of racism in the report. Let’s take that out of the equation altogether. It’s still a stunning indictment of greedy jackassery and institutionalized abuse of the weak and poor – bullies with badges and gavels.

I am not a lawyer and cannot cite pages and pages of case law as the DOJ did. I am a nerd, so I will cite Spiderman: with great power comes great responsibility. That’s why this situation is so wrong and why you see rage flowing in the streets of Saint Louis. People with great power did not exercise responsibility or compassion. They did not use it to protect their community or serve its people. They used their power to demean, mistreat and humiliate. They used the police force like mob enforcers to squeeze every last penny from an already impoverished and vulnerable population. You can only beat people for so long before they rise up against you.

With 102 pages of injustice boiling my blood and filling my spirit with profound sadness, I went to chapel.  I believe that God is still speaking to us through his word but somehow I’m always blown away when it really happens. The reading for the day was Isaiah 61, the verses Jesus used to announce the beginning of his ministry on this earth. 

As I listened to the ancient words, I thought of the residents of Ferguson. And Jennings. And Pine Lawn. And Overland and all the tiny municipalities burdened by poverty and oppression.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

    because the LORD has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor

    and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

    instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

    instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

    instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

    a planting of the LORD

    for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins

    and restore the places long devastated;

they will renew the ruined cities

    that have been devastated for generations.

Strangers will shepherd your flocks;

    foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

And you will be called priests of the LORD,

    you will be named ministers of our God.

You will feed on the wealth of nations,

    and in their riches you will boast.

Instead of your shame

    you will receive a double portion,

and instead of disgrace

    you will rejoice in your inheritance.

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,

    and everlasting joy will be yours.

“For I, the LORD, love justice;

    I hate robbery and wrongdoing.

In my faithfulness I will reward my people

    and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their descendants will be known among the nations

    and their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will acknowledge

    that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”

Isaiah 61: 1-9

This is the word of our Lord.

Thanks be to God.