Check out this great column by Mark Pinsky, former religion report for The Orlando Sentinel. Pinsky writes in a CNN column titled “Where’s the white church outrage over Trayvon Martin?“:
Few if any white clergy have spoken up to demand that the killing be fully investigated. None can be seen standing by the African-American preachers calling for justice, or marching with Martin’s family members. Why?
As someone who covered this area’s faith community for 15 years, I don’t think the answer is racism as much as it is cultural callousness. Week in and week out, the violent deaths and disappearances of poor, black and brown people – especially immigrants – merit a one- or two-paragraph story in The Orlando Sentinel’s (my old newspaper’s) police blotter. So when a middle-class black teen is gunned down, the reaction tends to be a shrug of the shoulders.
AND
But in the case of Trayvon Martin, the white religious community – including those affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, this area’s dominant affiliation – has so far been silent and invisible.
Some black Christians are beginning to question this silence. At a predominately African-American Seventh-day Adventist congregation last Saturday, during a previously scheduled discussion of “racial progress,” a man stood up and asked why his denomination had not yet spoken or acted on the Trayvon Martin controversy.
The Florida Council of Churches released a statement of support for the family of Trayvon Martin on March 21. Here is a snippet:
On behalf of our churches, we wish to convey our deepest condolences to the family of Trayvon Martin….We call upon law enforcement in Sanford to pursue justice in this matter with deliberate effectiveness. The investigation into Trayvon Martin’s death should proceed swiftly without racial bias so that the matter is not continually tried in the media. The Martin family and the community at large need protection from vigilantism and assurance that Florida’s streets are open to all people without respect to the color of their skin. We call upon Sanford authorities to take actions that demonstrate both racial fairness and concern for the safety of the community.
This statement was signed by Florida faith leaders representing various mainline Protestant denominations including the United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA, Moravian Church, Church of the Brethren, Society of Friends and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
The NAACP requested that Franklin Graham stand with civil rights leaders in calling for justice for Trayvon Martin. Graham reportedly has agreed.
A rally was scheduled for tonight (Thursday) at Shiloh Baptist Church in Sanford, Florida.
The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference (SDPC) – an organization founded in 2003 that represents progressive African-American faith leaders and their congregations – has published “A Litany for Children Slain by Violence” and has announced a community rally at Sanford’s First United Methodist Church on Monday, March 26 at 4pm.
Don’t you think there has been some initial confusion and misreporting on this case? Truth and justice go hand in hand.
The “Stand Your Ground” law is now getting scrutiny, which it should.
This practice of “questioning silence” also seems out of hand.
Silence is waiting until the facts are in. Silence avoids a rush to judgment. Silence is withholding tinder from the fire.
Honestly I’d rather question the speaker: Were you a witness to the incident? Do you know Martin or Zimmerman? Do you have any facts to add? Are you an expert? If so, have you read all the witness statements and reviewed the evidence? Would you ever issue an expert opinion if you had not? Are you being paid by a network or organization or party to the case? Do you represent one of the parties? If so, are you willing to reveal both the facts that favor your client and the ones that don’t?
It’s really as simple as this:
Black Christians, Black Baptists specifically, were out marching and protesting.
White Christians, White Baptists specifically were sitting silently on the sidelines.
There’s something wrong with that picture. Unfortunately, it’s an example that we’ve seen lived out time and time again throughout history.
A paper of mine was recently published in the academic journal Baptist History & Heritage on Black Baptists and environmental justice.
Black Baptists were out marching against the siting of toxic waste in their neighborhood. White Baptists – which similar to this current instance, dominated that region of North Carolina – sat on the sidelines.
It happens over and over and over.
If it’s not racism, it’s outright cultural callousness as reporter Pinsky suggests in his CNN column.
The Fox News/Conservative Radio talking points can’t speak to this historical reality…
There certainly is plenty of cultural callousness to go around, and historical realities. But because this particular story is developing daily, the inference that silence = racism seems unjust.
Who inferred that silence equal racism?
Pinsky did not. Did you read the article or just skip right ahead to commenting.
I did not either. I quoted Pinksy’s use of the phrase cultural callousness.
You can come here and repeat conservative talking points. But at the end of the day – when the dust settles or begins to settle – black Christians in the region will remember the silence and apathy of many white Christians, especially conservative ones.
How that furthers much needed racial reconciliation, I don’t know. But if improved race relations were ever a priority of the right, then we’d have fewer folks out and about defending silence.
Sure, we don’t have ALL the facts. Lacking ALL the facts is not a valid excuse for complete and utter silence. Why not offer support for fellow Christians just because its the right thing to do?
Everything is not a Fox news conservative talking point. I spoke AGAINST talking heads and AGREED with Pinnock’s point about cultural callousness. This situation is 4 weeks old, developing, highly charged, and getting out of control. Anyone who hasn’t spoken into it publicly (CBF? Catholic church?) may be practicing the silence of “slow to speak” rather than “complete and utter silence.” Anyone who can speak responsibly and feels called to it, can. The Florida churches’ statement, being local and balanced, seems appropriate.
[...] I began seeing articles and blogs chastising Christians for their failures. Where was the outcry? Why aren’t we outraged? Why won’t you stand with African Americans? Many have invoked incidents from their past to say, [...]