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A thread/study on systemic racism.
Loads of evangelicals argue systemic racism isn't a thing. But this tweet is a great example of why and how, in fact, it is.
First, read through @kedwardcopeland's article, then if you've got the stomach, read the comments to @TGC's tweet. /1 https://twitter.com/TGC/status/1299839937458704386
Loads of evangelicals argue systemic racism isn't a thing. But this tweet is a great example of why and how, in fact, it is.
First, read through @kedwardcopeland's article, then if you've got the stomach, read the comments to @TGC's tweet. /1 https://twitter.com/TGC/status/1299839937458704386
All done? Great. Let's get into it.
Copeland is correct to point out that Blake and Rittenhouse were treated both with different assumptions and different force by police. /2
Copeland is correct to point out that Blake and Rittenhouse were treated both with different assumptions and different force by police. /2
Blake refused commands to stop, and maybe? had a knife. As a result, he was shot 7 times—in the back.
Rittenhouse apparently shot off 8 rounds with a gun he wasn't permitted to carry, killed two people, injured one, and was ignored by police as he walked by. /3
Rittenhouse apparently shot off 8 rounds with a gun he wasn't permitted to carry, killed two people, injured one, and was ignored by police as he walked by. /3
Blake was shot multiple times in an attempt to stop him from possible action.
Rittenhouse took human life and was permitted to cross state lines, and later arrested by Illinois (not Wisconsin) police without violence. /4
Rittenhouse took human life and was permitted to cross state lines, and later arrested by Illinois (not Wisconsin) police without violence. /4
Why the difference?
Lots of people are claiming that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. But we need to be careful w/ that conclusion—two people are dead. That's serious, and for a jury to decide. For this thread, let's set that argument aside. /5
Lots of people are claiming that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. But we need to be careful w/ that conclusion—two people are dead. That's serious, and for a jury to decide. For this thread, let's set that argument aside. /5
I want to suggest that the contrasting assumptions and actions of the police were the result of consolidated characteristics—assumptions that skin color tells something about socioeconomic status, political motivations, intentions/responsibility with a weapon, etc.). /6
What I mean is that the police saw a white youth with an AR-15 and concluded that he was "one of us." Assumptions were made about his motivations and intentions for being present with a long gun in a clearly volatile environment. /7
But let's engage in a little thought experiment. Make Rittenhouse a black man in a hoodie with a handgun, traveling to Kenosha to "defend property." Do you think he would have been treated differently by the police? And the commenters in response to TGC's tweet?
Mhm, yes. /8
Mhm, yes. /8
Did the Kenosha police shoot Blake because he was black and they were racist? I don't know.
But the fact that a black man gets seven bullets to the back, while a white man is arrested in his home state leads to the reasonable conclusion that race is is still a live factor. /9
But the fact that a black man gets seven bullets to the back, while a white man is arrested in his home state leads to the reasonable conclusion that race is is still a live factor. /9
Friends, racism isn't just one person calling another person a racial epithet. It also involves all the subterranean assumptions about people that cause one group to assume that that black man deserves to be shot, while assuming this white man was acting in self-defense. /10
This is why we talk about systemic racism.
And it's not just a police problem. The fact that so many of these commenters have bought into a narrative that justifies the white, AR-15-wielding teenager instead of the black man reveals a right dirty underbelly. /11
And it's not just a police problem. The fact that so many of these commenters have bought into a narrative that justifies the white, AR-15-wielding teenager instead of the black man reveals a right dirty underbelly. /11
And here's where this hits home, Christian: how can we ever expect unity and self-sacrificing love of the other in the church when these narratives and assumptions reign supreme in our hearts? /12
