You have wearied the Lord with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?"
-Malachi 2:17
Terence Crutcher was shot and killed on Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma after being approached by law enforcement when his vehicle broke down in the middle of the road.
And guess what? Terence Crutcher was black.
Metaphorically speaking, if the countless acts of violence toward the black community were all lumped together and deliberated in a courtroom setting between a judge and jury, I think the judge would be ripping his or her hair out, while looking over at the jury and shouting,
"Is it not obvious?!!!"
"Why do you keep walking back into the jurors chambers to deliberate?!!!"
"Have you lost your senses????!!!!"
"We don't need any more deliberation!!! We need a decision, now!!!"
That's exactly how I felt when my associate, Travis brought the news about Mr. Crutcher to my attention.
A man sets off a bomb in New York City on Saturday, is apprehended on Monday, shooting two police officers in the process, and is taken into custody alive.
An unarmed black man's car breaks down on Friday in the middle of a road in Tulsa and he is shot and killed while holding his hands up in the air in submission.
You may object. "Yeah, but they captured a terrorist in New York. That's why they didn't shoot him. They needed him for questioning."
Seriously? That's your objection?
Are you telling me that because Terence Crutcher wasn't a terrorist that shooting him instead of detaining him for questioning was justified? And what would they detain him for anyway? His car breaking down?
You're just crazy if you think that.
Your conscience is seared.
You have lost your inner compass and are unable to see reality.
For the sake of argument, let's even assume that he mouthed off to the officers (which he didn't) calling them some of the most disrespectful, hurtful things in the human language.
So what? Is that a reason to kill a man?
What planet are we living on?
What nation are we living in?
A man flying in a helicopter overhead observing the scene was recorded as saying, "That looks like a bad dude, too. Probably on something."
Looks like a bad dude?
Looks?
Why? Was he wearing body armor? Was he waving a weapon around? Was he writhing on the ground and frothing at the mouth?
No.
He "looked," well... black.
The video footage says it all, and back to the metaphor of the judge and jury, I am filled with questions that have gone unanswered for entirely too long.
"Is it not obvious?!!!"
"Why do we keep deliberating about this?!!!"
"Have we lost our senses????!!!!"
I think God is wearied with our words. I think God is weary of us calling what is evil, "good." I think God is weary of us begging him for justice. He has given us working minds and feeling hearts, and we're not using them.
Hundreds, thousands, millions of people looking up to the heavens and asking, "Why God, why? When are you going to do something?"
If we listen deep in our conscience, I believe we'll hear the infinitely loving, firm voice of divinity whispering within us, "When are you going to do something about it?"
Selah.