SJEREC RESPONSE TO THE PRESENT DANGER

We have just experienced, over the past two weeks, what I have been led to call a Jobsian moment. By this statement I’m referring to the murders of two of our black brothers by policeman, and the murder of eight policemen by two misguided black brothers. Just when we felt we had heard the worst, the cold blooded murder of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., the news channels shocked us with another photo of the murder of Philando Castile in Minnesota. Both murders were perpetrated by policemen. These deaths were two of the most recent of a long line of similar tragedies. The most recent names include Anthony Nunez, Pedro Villanueva, and Delrawn Small. The nature of these events leaves us with no alternative but to, based on the facts, conclude that black and Latino men, especially young black men, are marked for death simply because they are black.

The other part of this tragic scenario is that while good police officers were carrying out their responsibilities as upholders or enforcers of the law, they were slaughtered like animals, by two black former military men. Five cops in Dallas, TX.; and two cops and one sheriff’s deputy in Baton Rouge, LA. These events, which occurred in such rapid succession, had a paralytic effect on the nation. These officers of the law were innocent and were ruthlessly sought out and made to pay the ultimate sacrifice because of the injustices of others.

Now our nation is in mourning. We join our brothers and sisters across the nation and, with loud and gut-wrenching lamentations; cry out for justice on all fronts; Justice for our slain black and Latino brothers, and Justice for the officers of the law who were unjustly murdered. We lament and pray for the families who are agonizing over the loss of their loved ones, and we ask our God to comfort and sustain them during this awful time of pain and suffering. 

There is more we must do. Praying is not enough. We must pray and then act as though we believe our prayers are heard and are being answered. Jeremiah the great prophet of the Old Testament charges the people of God to “. . . seek the peace of the city. . . and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace, therefore shall ye have peace.” (Jeremiah 29:7). The PICO National Network also captured the action needed at this time in a recent call to action in response to this tragic ridden moment by calling all of its faith-based collaborators to “grieve, to pray, and to plan the way forward”. The first two actions are instinctive to the awful situations we are experiencing at this time. We grieve deeply when evil and violence are perpetrated upon our communities, our people. Those of us who are people of faith pray, or call for divine intervention to stop the evil and violence and to “send help from the sanctuary” in the words of King David. And we should certainly do this. It is the third action that shall occupy our attention for the rest of this statement.

We exist to fulfill the aspect of the COOLJC Mission to “engage those problems that confront the communities we are called to serve”. Our national community is besieged by the evils of racism, exploitation of the poor, gross inequalities in the areas of education, economics or jobs, and livable wages, affordable housing, a corrupt criminal justice system, and outright hatred of black skinned and brown skinned people as expressed in police brutality. A spirit of lawlessness is raising its ugly head throughout the land. This is occurring at the highest levels of the political and business sections of our country and is even expressed in the disregard for the poor, the aged, and the disadvantaged.

We are calling our leaders: Apostles, Bishops, Presbyters and lay persons throughout COOLJC to join us in fulfilling the divine mandate “to engage those problems that are confronting the communities we have been called to serve.” We must do this by working together for Social Justice (social righteous, J. R. Foster) or fairness for all people. God expressed His concern and posture against injustice through the prophecy of the great prophet Isaiah, 

            Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings

Our appeal to the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ family is to join us as we work to achieve justice in our great country today. Let us collaborate with other faith-based groups to confront injustice wherever it raises its ugly head. God has given us power to bear witness not only in evangelism, but in being a transformative presence in the world to effect, through the unique gifts of the Holy Spirit, social righteousness as well. Our Lord stated that the church was to be “The salt of the earth and the Light of the World.” It is imperative that we use our giftedness to complement the efforts of others in bringing about social righteousness as well.

Apostle Dr. James I. Clark, Jr., Director