A Biblical Response to the Deaths of Michael Brown & Eric Garner

This past weekend the Rev. Al Sharpton led a protest in our nation’s capitol. The stated purpose of the event was to “end blue-on-black crime because black lives matter.” Those who support blue on black crime apparently didn’t care to counter-protest. I think its safe to say 99.99% of Americans oppose blue crime of any fashion, especially the illegal use of deadly force.

Anyone who says black lives don’t matter is a bigot. All lives matter because all people are created in the image of God. We are all born with equal rights and the same duties to God and neighbor. The police certainly are not above the law and criminal cops ought to be prosecuted. But were the two civilian deaths in question criminal; Michael Brown was killed Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson with and Eric Garner died after being subdued by Officer Daniel Pantaleo in NYC? The respective grand juries said no.

A cynic might say the DC protest is merely a ginned up controversy used by those who never want to let a good crisis go to waste. They are exploiting Michel Brown’s and Eric Garner’s death to justify the existence of their organizations and the sense of injustice they believe legitimizes them. Others sincerely feel there is unjust, disproportionate amount of blue on black crime.

TO THE BOOK

“You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.”Exodus 23:1-3

Biblical justice is blind. We can’t let hype or hysteria rob us of it. Pity for either party, either because a person is Law Enforcement or black, has to be set aside. We are not to get swept away with a movement if the movement is wrong, no matter how well intended it may appear.

The larger context

The number of U.S. police officers killed in 2012 by gunfire was 68, a 15% increase from the year before. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reports 173 officers died in 2012 in the line of duty - up from 153 deaths in 2011. This marks the first time in 14 years that firearm fatalities were higher than traffic-related deaths. Are the police more trigger-happy or simply more at risk and in need of being more aggressive in defending their own lives?

The FBI counts over 400 “justifiable homicides” by American police officers every year. The US Bureau of Justice Statistics says there were 2,931 “arrest-related deaths” from 2003 to 2009, that includes car chases and shootouts. The civilian casualties are nearly always men ages 25 to 34. Of those killed, 41.7 per cent of the casualties were white (including Hispanics) and 31.7 per cent were black. Since blacks only make up 13 per cent of the US population, blacks are disproportionately more likely to be killed.

According to the US Department of Justice, blacks accounted for 72.5% of homicide offenders from 1980 to 2008, with whites 25.3% and Native Americans and Asians 2.2%. The offending rate for blacks was almost 8 times higher than whites, and the victim rate 6 times higher. Most murders are intra-racial; 84% of white homicide victims were murdered by whites, and 93% of black victims were murdered by blacks.

In 2008 black youths, who make up 16% of the youth population, accounted for 52% of juvenile violent crime arrests, including 58.5% of youth arrests for homicide and 67% for robbery, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Black youths were overrepresented in all offense categories except DUI, liquor laws and drunkenness.

A National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found young black men raised in one-parent homes are twice as likely to commit crimes when compared to black men raised by intact families. If young males raised by one parent reside in a neighborhood with many other single-parent families, they are 3 times likelier to engage in criminal activity than peers with two parents.

Family break down, not racism, seems to drive the disproportionate number of police involved deaths of black men. Police have more interaction with the black community by virtue of the fact more crime occurs within it. As a result, the disproportionate percentage of police killing of blacks can logically be connected to higher incidences of crime.

Hands up, Don’t Shoot?

The rallying cry for Sharpton’s protest movement is, “Hands up, don’t shoot.” These are the alleged last words of Michael Brown before he was killed by Officer Darren Brown. The problem is other witnesses, some who were black, when they testified under oath in front of the Ferguson grand jury, contradicted the witness who started that version of the story.

The physical evidence points to Officer Wilson defending his own life, but that does not matter if you are trying to create a political advantage. D.W. Wilber writes, “Unfortunately for America, Officer Wilson is just a ‘discard’ played in the deck of racial card tricks being used for political purposes by those determined to continue the myth and illusion of “Hands up, don’t shoot.”

Cause of death?

The reports about Eric Garner’s death are confusing. The video certainly looked as if he was being abused by Officer Daniel Pantaleo. The autopsy by the medical examiner found no damage to Garner’s windpipe or neck bones. After Garner was handcuffed and had passed out, the police did no CPR on Garner because they claim he was still breathing.

Garner was pronounced dead approximately one hour later at the hospital by a heart attack. After the incident, city medical examiners concluded that Garner was killed by neck compression, along with “the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” Contributing factors listed included bronchial asthma, heart disease, obesity, and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

What does not help is that Officer Pantaleo was not a pristine actor. He had prior incidents that make him look prone to be too aggressive. But what do the facts say? The NYC grand jury that had all the facts and the video did not indict.

GOOD NEWS

In our focus on problems it is important we not lose sight of some hopeful trends. Did you know homicides committed by blacks declined by half between 1991 and 2008? Since the early 1990s, arrests of black juveniles have plunged by more than half. In New York City, where Eric Garner was killed by police, the rate of homicides by blacks is down by 80 percent. In Chicago, where most murders are committed by blacks, the numbers are the lowest since 1965. In any given year, less than 5 percent of blacks are involved in violent crime either as perpetrators or victims.

SOLUTIONS

The Bible was written for our world. It is entirely realistic about life and about human nature. For example, Jesus taught, “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies… (Matthew 5:19)That is why God gives authority to the government to enforce just laws and punish criminals. (Romans 13).

It is important to note that one of the chronic problems with our existing justice system is the degree of false witness or perjury that goes unpunished. We are all incensed when we find out an innocent man has been languishing in jail for years or even decades because of erroneous eye-witness testimony.

Perjury is among one of THE most pernicious crimes because it undermines the entire justice system. We make jokes about how lawyers will lie about anything to get an advantage in court. If you end up in court you hope your lying lawyer is a better liar than your opponent’s lying lawyer. All the while the Ninth Commandment instructs us, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)

Equity

The Bible has a simple, elegant straight-forward remedy for perjury: equity.

“If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. “The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. “The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. “Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deuteronomy 19:16-21)

According to this command any one found to have perjured himself should be subject to the penalty his perjury would have cost the innocent. This is simple equity and once acted upon would cut down the lies and false accusations that corrupt our courts.

We rightly affirm there ought to be equal justice under law for everyone; rich and poor, black and white, civilian and police. But we live in a fallen world and therefore the justice system can be corrupted by lies, bribes, pity or intimidation. God’s solutions are awaiting our compliance, but we vainly think we are more wise, loving and just than God. As a result the liars are rewarded and the innocent suffer.

Think of all the damage done in Ferguson. Businesses are burned to the ground, lives destroyed and a neighborhood may never recover because of the “Hands up don’t shoot” lie. Officer Wilson and his family will live in fear for the rest of their lives simply because he defended his life.

A lie has been used to make Brown into a martyr and publicity seeking politicians, athletes and celebrities have fallen all over themselves to exploit the lie in order to make themselves look noble. Will they patrol the neighborhood after the dust settles or donate their millions to rebuild it?

Eric Garner is dead because he had a heart attack after he resisted arrest. No one shot or choked him to death. Both deaths are tragic, but neither are criminal. Mobs in New York were recorded marching around chanting, “What do we want? Dead Cops!”

There are real cases of police abuse and they ought to be fully prosecuted. They should have no special immunities from prosecution, and yet we can’t send them into harms way and not expect them to defend their own lives. Put cameras and mics on all police and their vehicles. Have a civilian review of all police shootings. Make grand jury testimony available to the public, so long as the jurors and witnesses are protected.

Seek equal justice under the law. Prosecute blue, black, white, yellow, brown and red criminals, including the perjurers. Thank God for our system of justice. It may not be perfect, but it is more just and biblical than the courts of many other nations. May God help us to truly improve it, not exploit it for any one group or special interest. “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:24