Amid the Protests Against Racism I Find Heroes

Friday, Jun. 12, 2020

It’s easy to close my eyes to the sight of protesters nationwide, worldwide, calling out our nation for its systemic racism. It’s easy to play my favorite music instead of listening to people of color in all parts of the country telling their stories of encountering racism, discrimination, violence. It’s easy to say that I’m not racist, I don’t discriminate, I’m not violent.

But doing the easy things is not living out my baptismal call. My brothers and sisters are suffering and I, as a Catholic, am called by Christ to walk with them, to acknowledge their suffering, and to work to end this intrinsic evil that has persisted in our society for centuries. 

Watching the news, I have seen numerous women and men act in ways I hope to emulate. Among them:

– The five men – three black, one Dominican and one white – who linked arms to shield a lone white Louisville metro police officer against angry protesters. Later, in an interview, one of the men said he acted because “a human was in trouble.” 

I want to be able to see the humanity of others, even if they represent what I am protesting. 

– Aiden, whose mother Nakia Armstrong shared a Facebook post about her son going to talk to law enforcement officers who were guarding the Utah State Capitol during the protests. Aiden, a person of color who looks to be in his early teens, acknowledged that it was going to be “hard and scary,” but he wanted to go. He was angry but wanted a greater understanding of what was happening, his mother said. 

I want to be able to face my fears, just as he did.

– Caroline Crockett Brock, a self-described “45-year-old white woman living in the South,” who for the first time “spoke frankly about racism with a black man,” according to her Facebook post. Brock asked Ernest Skelton, her appliance repairman, about his day-to-day experiences as a black man. He told her about the discrimination he faces. In a subsequent television interview, Brock said people should “ask the hard questions. … It’s really about listening with an open mind instead of thinking you know.” 

I want to be able to ask the questions and listen with an open mind.

– Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso and 12 priests from his diocese, who on June 1 silently knelt and prayed for 8 minutes and 46 seconds – the same amount of time that a police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck before he died. According to America magazine, Bishop Seitz said he and the priests did so because they felt “it was imperative to show our solidarity to those who are suffering.” 

I want to act in solidarity as well.

– All of those who have died, protestors and law enforcement officials alike, during the recent demonstrations. 

I want to be willing to die for a just cause, or while  conscientiously fulfilling an oath.

“Racism is not merely one sin among many, it is a radical evil dividing the human family,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in its 1979 pastoral letter on racism, “Brothers and Sisters To Us.”

That letter was the third they had written on the subject; another was published in 2018. In the most recent letter, the bishops call for “a genuine conversion of heart, a conversion that will compel change, and the reform of our institutions and society. Conversion is a long road to travel for the individual. Moving our nation to a full realization of the promise of liberty, equality, and justice for all is even more challenging. However, in Christ we can find the strength and the grace necessary to make that journey.”

My prayer is that we all, each of us, find that grace and strength to work to make this great country a land where no one need fear being killed because of the color of their skin. Where no one need fear being killed after going to buy Skittles, like Trayvon Martin. Where no one need fear being killed while jogging, like Ahmaud Arbery. Where no one need fear being killed while eating ice cream in his living room, like Botham Jean. Where no one need fear being killed while sleeping at home, like Breonna Taylor. Where no one need fear being killed while driving a car, like too many people of color to list by name. And where no one need fear that their cries for justice for their murdered loved ones will go unheard because of the color of his or her skin.

I don’t know how to make this vision a reality. Some federal lawmakers are proposing legislation to address systemic racism in this country. How can I work to ensure just laws are enacted and enforced? Some of us at the diocese are meeting to discuss the role of the Church in issues of racial inequality. How to I spread that message not only to local Catholics but throughout the state? How do I, personally, grow and change so that I can see the humanity of everyone, to confront my fears, to listen with an open mind, to act in solidarity, to be willing to lay down my life for my brothers and sisters?

I don’t know, but I am willing to work to make it happen.