Healing our community

What led to the tragic shooting of an unarmed black teenager, 18-year-old Mike Brown, on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri at high noon? What factors spawned the recent breakdown of law and order that seized the streets of North St. Louis County? In the past few days, these questions have dominated the news cycle as well as the discussions on street corners, around kitchen tables, in barbershops and on social media. 

I have listened closely to what the experts have had to say. I’ve listened as a steady stream of other voices have offered up their perspectives on the nature of crime and punishment. Some claim that St. Louis’ long history of racism and Ferguson’s, in particular, is to blame for

Mike Brown’s death. Others have gone even further and suggested that police misconduct, as expressed in the practice of racial profiling, was the cause of the tragedy. Concerning the looting and rioting that gripped the streets of North St. Louis County in the wake of the shooting, some have claimed that a culture of hopelessness is to blame. Some commentators are even citing violent rap music as a contributing factor to the violence. 

While all of these arguments have merit, I, along with the pastors of the Episcopal Diocese of Mid-America, whom I represent, believe that racism, hopelessness and the like—as serious as these issues are—are merely symptoms of a much larger societal disease. We are convinced that the root of our illness is spiritual in nature. As such, we see a clear correlation between the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in St. Louis County and the rise of meth labs in Jefferson County. We see the correlation between looting and the rise of internet pornography. In other words, when I look at all of our societal ills, I also see the underlying cause—sin. 

To be clear, I am not implying that lawbreakers are not responsible for their actions. If due process takes place and it is found that the police officer who shot and killed Mike Brown operated outside the law, then he should be brought to justice, without regard to his occupation. Also, anyone who is found guilty of looting and rioting must pay for their crimes as well. Nonetheless, even after verdicts are passed down and the guilty go to jail, unless we as a society take the necessary steps to treat the disease rather than simply react to the symptoms, then we will remain caught in this vicious cycle of lawlessness. 

So, what are the steps we must take to heal ourselves of the spiritual cancer that is eating away at

our society? We must start by putting God back into the public square. We need to invite God back into our schools, communities, police departments, homes and lives. Inasmuch as this nation professes to be “under God”, it’s time we start acting like it. 

I am a volunteer police chaplain for one of North County’s police departments, but am rarely called upon to serve. The active engagement of black chaplains by the various white-dominated police departments in black-dominated municipalities throughout St. Louis County could go a long way in establishing a “God-consciousness” within these departments.