A trio that began as a composition in response to the recent unjust, violent deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo at the hands of police. One week later, two more names, Ma’Khia Bryant and Andrew Brown, Jr., also needed to be added to this post.
Power source is on. Engine is humming. Gears are turning in lockstep. No belts have broken. No part needs grease. Every bolt is in its place, right where engineers designed them to be.
“Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.”
“For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.”
The white male police officer who killed George Floyd, an African American man who was 46, has been on trial in Minneapolis. In the same city, a white female police officer has shot and killed Daunte Wright, a twenty-year-old African American man. Truth about a white male police officer in Chicago shooting and killing Adam Toledo, a thirteen-year-old Latino boy, has emerged after false reports. Another white male police officer has shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant, a sixteen-year-old African American girl in Columbus, Ohio. Deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina have shot and killed Andrew Brown, Jr., a forty-two-year-old African American man.
Engine humming. Bolts tight.
“For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;
all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.'”
“I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.”
American racism’s handiwork. White domination’s border security. It defends white lives, property, and power without fail. It goes on the offensive against black and brown bodies with precision. It wields sovereignty over the scene, story, and sentencing. It keeps the peace of white picket fenced exploitation, the mission it was made to do.
Powered up. Gears interlocking.
“Their ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of their sight;
as for their foes, they scoff at them.
They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;
throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.‘
Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
They sit in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places they murder the innocent.”
“They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”
This is no rogue agent. It collaborates with many partners on white power’s assignments: law, business, education, community development. It is one in a series of interconnected systems that sustain the body of white supremacy, ensuring that this body matters too much to America to fail.
Belts whirring. Grease mobilizing.
“They stoop, they crouch,
and the helpless fall by their might.
They think in their heart, ‘God has forgotten,
[God] has hidden [God’s] face, [God] will never see it.‘”
“They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.”
Behold the body. Behold the machine. What do you see? What do I see?
Pressure mounting. Valves venting.
“But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.”
“Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.”
Lives that matter have been destroyed. Relationships that matter have been ripped apart. Communities that matter have been traumatized. The violence and injustice exacted by this machine loom large before our eyes. They lay bare evils like hot blazing fire that flesh cannot bear to touch, nor hearts to witness up close for too long.
But eyes averted in haste are bound to miss the icy, sickening scenes bearing white supremacy’s trademark. The white lives unaffected. White relationships intact. White communities going about business as usual. White vistas registering nothing out of order. White people surviving and thriving the day after. White excuse after excuse to let white supremacy keep running. To upgrade its systems. Tighten its bolts. White stasis before black and brown blood shed again. Unmoved. Numb.
Gauges steady. Calibration achieved.
“Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;
seek out their wickedness until you find none.”
“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!”
White supremacy has had 400 years to synchronize its operations. Four hundred years to make a home in our bodies. Four hundred years to teach us and our children and our children’s children until we know every sound, every movement, every line by heart. And it shows no sign of stopping.
But its end is certain. It sealed its own fate long ago and continues to seal its fate every time it takes another child, teenage, adult reflection of God and dares to transgress their incarnation.
Enough! Enough! Enough! Cut the power. Loosen the bolts. Sever every failsafe—and hurry. Before more lives are at stake. Every second counts. Doesn’t it?
“O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.”
“They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.”
Notes & References
This piece is inspired by and drawing from the wisdom of a chorus of anti-racist thinkers, voices, and activists, including:
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010)
Brian Bantum, The Death of Race: Building a New Christianity in a Racial World (2016)
Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness (2018)
M. Shawn Copeland, Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being (2010)
Willie James Jennings, “Is American Willing to Be Freed from Its Demons?” Religion Dispatches (July 11, 2016), https://religiondispatches.org/is-america-willing-to-be-freed-from-its-demons/; Acts commentary (2017); “My Anger, God’s Righteous Indignation,” For the Life of the World podcast interview (June 2, 2020), https://for-the-life-of-the-world-yale-center-for-faith-culture.simplecast.com/episodes/my-anger-gods-righteous-indignation-willie-jennings-response-to-the-death-of-george-floyd
Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist (2019); “The American Nightmare,” The Atlantic (June 1, 2020), https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-nightmare/612457/
Resmaa Menakem, “Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence,” On Being podcast interview (June 4, 2020; re-aired April 15, 2021), https://onbeing.org/programs/resmaa-menakem-notice-the-rage-notice-the-silence/
The Movement for Black Lives, Defund the Police campaign, https://m4bl.org/defund-the-police/
The Poor People’s Campaign, https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/
“Seeing White,” Scene on Radio podcast, season 2 (2017), https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/
and so many others who have spoken truth to the power of systemic racism in the U.S. The ideas about policing and white supremacy (referring to the whole racial structure of U.S. society, not to white supremacist groups only) expressed here certainly did not originate with me; they are insights that I have learned from these people and their work.
Scripture quotations are from Psalm 10 (italics) and Isaiah 65 (bold), New Revised Standard Version.
Featured image of “Say Their Names, Black Lives Matter” sign is by Clay Banks on the Unsplash website (June 8, 2020), https://www.unsplash.com.
