The City Burns…For Justice

I have so many thoughts about today… many of them will stay deep within. Yet, I will not be able to sleep without putting a few of them down.   The first is I am grateful to be able to go home and kiss my children and wife. This is a grace that was taken from George Floyd. He can no longer kiss his family.  This is a grace I don’t take lightly. I also realize and confess that both the whiteness of my skin and the priestly collar I wear buy me ‘graces’ that many of my fellow brothers, sisters and neighbors don’t receive, especially my POC friends. 

Second in all the rest that I will write, do not forget that the city wasn’t burning, people were not protesting, or rioting, or looting until one of our fellow humans...a brother... a father... a friend, was arrested by police. One of these officers, for over 5 minutes placed his knee upon George’s neck while he cried out in pain, asking for breath, asking for release. At a bare minimum this was excessive force. Clearly it was murder.   I will forever argue this was a lynching in broad daylight. A lynching we have on film, from a multitude of angels, showing a multitude of stories.  All of them clearly point to a handcuffed, subdued man suffering under the choking knee of a person in authority. A person payed by our tax dollars to protect and serve. 

Again you can argue with many things but if any of us were to do the same we would be arrested immediately.   Yet after many days he is still not in custody. Nor the three other officers also payed to protect and serve who watched as this happened.  

So people began protesting. They did so peacefully. Until the next day when again no charges. Then another day.  So the city was set ablaze.  

Today when I arrived at the 3rd precinct, there was not a police officer anywhere to be seen.  The station was completely empty except for two officers on the roof in riot gear. In the center of the intersection was a green truck. Mad Dads of Minneapolis and Trinity ELCA were holding camp, speaking truth, and sharing the platform in some of the most profound ways I’ve seen in over 20 years of ministry. 

Men and women of color, making room for young people to speak their truth, offering children the microphone, allowing wise sages space and time.  There were, Clergy, Community leaders, Ex-convicts, Teachers, Dads whose children had been killed by police, all of whom had one thing in common:  They all were calling for justice. 

 As they spoke and chanted for multiple hours they allowed space for there to be differences of opinion of what is happening in Minneapolis. It was clear they understood the complexity of the situation. They called on the ancestors that came before them, they called on their mothers, like George Floyd, They called on their fathers, and grandparents, on the ancestors that paved the road to this point of freedom, limited as it is. There were people who spoke violence, people who spoke love.  They held these in tension… Because they understood that the reality of injustice is that it creates in us all kinds of feelings and actions.  It was powerful, beautiful and profound example of leadership. 

As I stood and listened we passed out water, food, and medical supplies to those in need. Thank you to all who helped provide those supplies. They were put to good use. I watched Muslims, Christians, Budhists, Jews, anarchists, agnostics, atheists, and average joes, all gather in one spirit: The spirit of justice. I stood next to a beautiful young family. A Husband and wife and three kids. One child wore a shirt that said “please don’t kill me.” Those were the first tears I shed today.  Because we are killing them. That’s why this family was willing to risk coming and protesting. Picture your child with a police officer's knee on their neck choking them out while they begged for breath.  If you don’t have kids picture my Hazel or Jackson with a knee in their neck. The parents I stood beside imagine that horror every night.

On my otherside a man asked Kai and I why we, as clergy were present at this protest.  Then he told us the reason he was there was because his brother was killed by police in Minneapolis in the 90’s. So tonight he was marching for justice.  

1000’s of people, all with reasons to cry out for justice... All longing to be heard.... Hoping that this time might be the one where the waters of justice actually reign or even rain down but expecting it to be just like every time before. 

Behind us Target and Cub foods were being looted, a car was burning in the parking lot bursting every few moments spraying fumes and flames into the air. Burnt cars and a devoured Auto Zone were across the street looking like ghosts from a  previous night's war.  We stood, we stayed, we prayed, and we had conversations. 

As the powerful leaders of Mad Dad and Trinity ELCA cleared the intersection it became clear it was time to shift our basecamp.  

We heard news that Hennepin Avenue was getting dangerous so we headed there.  

Cops were everywhere, On bikes, on horses, in cars, and running down the street.  Protestors were calling them out, sometimes taunting them, often challenging them.  There were at least 30 of us to every cop.  We stood with the protestors with our arms up. Multiple times we were able to deseculate messy situations.  We were able to get medics to serve those in need.  But it was clear we need more of us.  We needed more clergy, more people of faith to not be afraid of the night.  To not be afraid to stand next to people crying for justice, even in the midst of a Pandemic. 

The police?  Some were calm, some were fearful and rightfully so. Some were Angry. Many were brave.  Some had their fingers on triggers of rubber bullet guns ready to use them. And use them they did. Between their guns and the tear gas cannons/extinguishers they opened up anytime the line got close you could taste the tear gas in the air. I still taste it.   

This is just the start of the story...

Before I left for home I watched as the 3rd precinct, the one I stood in front of just hours before in peaceful protest,  Go up in flames.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”  

People are hurting, because people are dying. People’s family members are not as ‘graced’ to come home like I did tonight. Instead they lie dead at our hands.  These neighbors want the people and structure to be held accountable.  The city will burn until they are.