“Violence is not only what black people do to white people as victims seek to change structure of their existence; it is also what white people did when they created a society for white people only, and what they do in order to maintain it. Violence in America did not begin with the black power movement or with the Black Panther Party. Neither is it limited to the Symbionese Liberation Army. Contrary to popular white opinion, violence has a long history in America. This country was born in violent revolution (remember 1776?), and it has been sustained by the violent extermination of red people and violent enslavement of black people. This is what Rap Brown had in mind when he said that “Violence is American as cherry pie.”

White people have a distorted conception of the meaning of violence. They like to think of violence as breaking the laws of their society, but that is a narrow and racist understanding of reality. There is a much more deadly form of violence, and it is camouflaged in such slogans as “law and order,” “freedom and democracy,” and “the American way of life.”[…]

I contend, therefore, that the problem of violence is not the problem of a few black revolutionaries but the problem of a whole social structure which outwardly appears to be ordered and respectable but inwardly is “ridden by psychopathic obsessions and delusions” – racism and hatred. Violence is embedded in American law, and it is blessed by the keepers of moral sanctity. This is the core of the problem of violence, and it will not be solved by romanticizing American history, pretending that Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Vietnam are the first American crimes against humanity. If we take seriously the idea of human dignity, then we know that the annihilation of Indians, the enslavement of Africans, and (Reinhold Niebuhr notwithstanding) the making of heroes out of slaveholders, like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were America’s first crimes against humankind. And it does not help the matter at all to attribute black slavery to economic necessity or an accident of history. America is an unjust society, and black people have known that for a long time.”

–James Cone, God of the Oppressed

Dear white people,

As more information comes out about the identity of the sniper in Dallas (there is already a pernicious narrative forming around the man’s middle name), and his desire to “kill white people, especially white officers,” I think it’s increasingly important for white people to keep in mind the power hierarchies and historical and systematic components that are in play here (as James Cone points out in the passages above). These things must be considered for any sort of comprehensive understanding of what is happening right now in our country, the United States.

The the killing of the five police officers in Dallas is what I could only describe as a devastating, violent tragedy, and as an anti-violent, aggressive Christian peacemaker I personally condemn killing human beings. Period. Killing humans to solve problems is one solution I personally have taken OFF the table a long time ago. BUT, as a Christian, I am ALSO simultaneously called to realize that my non-violent stance is one of power and privilege that should not be imposed on others, especially those who are victims of systemic oppressive power (of which I can never understand fully), for this only puts limits on how they can respond to their oppressors, and thus, can potentially keep them from gaining full freedom.

Right now I feel it is imperative that white people feel sympathy for the rage of black people, whose wounds have festered for generations upon generations without reckoning. Having sympathy/understanding for someone who feels so much rage over his brothers and sisters being systematically slain and enslaved for centuries with no repercussions is not the same as condoning violence. Sympathy, as I understand it, means to identify with. Once we can do this, once we can suffer this rage and see/understand someone else’s point of view, feel someone else’s pain, then and only then can we begin to make progress. By identifying in solidarity, and suffering with those who suffer we can, in a way, claim the pain as our own.

Again, this is not the same as condoning the violent actions or making excuses for negative behavior. It’s realizing that on a grand level, your story is actually my story too. Actions have consequences. Unfortunately, we white people must reckon with the sins of our fathers and the consequences that result; we must repent, do penance, and then seek forgiveness. I’m convinced it’s the only way.

Tags:black lives matterDallas sniperJames ConeLiberation Theologyviolence