God's Grace & a "post racial America"

With the recent events between the Cambridge police officer, Sergeant Crowley, and professor Gates of Harvard University, the media has been in an uproar about who was right and who was wrong. Professor Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct after his neighbor called 911 because she thought someone was breaking into his house. It turned out that he was trying to get into his back door after the front door was jammed. Gates was returning from a long trip from China and when the police office got there, it is alleged that he hurled insults at the officer, Mr. Crowley, alleging that he was only being harassed because he was black. Gates would be arrested, but eventually the charges were dropped and the case would probably have died down until a reporter asked president Obama about it at a presidential news conference, to which president Obama made an ill-advised comment about the cop acting stupidly. This added to the drama of this incident as the Cambridge police department rallied to the defense of their guy and one officer, Justin Barrett, even going a little too far in an e-mail calling using a racial slur to refer to professor Gates; Mr. Barrett was suspended from the police department for the comment.

All this drama this culminated in a sit down session at the White House yesterday with professor Gates, officer Crowley, vice president Biden and president Obama, all sitting in the South Lawn enjoying some alone time. What was discussed has remained confidential. The sit down meeting was at the suggestion of the president, realizing that he should have calibrated his words more carefully when commenting about the original incident that started all of this.

Some say that the election of President Obama is proof that we are in a post racial America and that we are at a point where we have finally gotten over our racial baggage. But anytime an incident like this happens, we are reminded once again that generally speaking, people of different races tend to see things through different lenses. I personally don't think that officer Crowley is racist and do believe that if cooler heads had prevailed, this issue would not have even made headline news. But two huge egos were in the room, and neither side was willing to back down. It ended up being a case of testicular fortitude. I learned a long time ago to never be disrespectful towards authority figures, especially the ones with guns, like cops.

We are told that this is a teachable moment and I hope that it is. Let us be honest, America has indeed come a very long way. Case in point, the city of Cambridge, where this happened, has a black female mayor. The state of Massachusetts has a black male governor, the country has a black president. This is not the same America that we used to be. But this does not mean that racial baggage does not exits. Blacks still trail whites in almost every indicator of socio-economic progress and their unemployment rate is almost double that of whites. We should have a debate as to why this is the case, a debate that goes beyond the talking points of the left and the right which try and make everything into a shouting match which imply it is either that the government can solve all problems (it can't), or that personal responsibility alone can solve all ills (it can't either)..

From a spiritual perspective, embracing the message of God's grace frees us to stop being so defensive and insulting in our dialogue, because we realize that even at our best, we all need the same love and compassion that God gives out freely. If we could start from this standpoint, it is easier to talk from a paradigm of compassion, instead of conflict; a paradigm of love, instead of fear and disdain. We all have our individual biases and the least that we can do is acknowledge them when they exist, maybe not publicly, but at least to ourselves; healing and maturity cannot occur otherwise. We can never dispel some of the harmful myths and stereotypes if we don't at least have the courage to engage in honest dialogue that is not trapped in the prison of political correctness. How many of us have true friends from other cultures, ethnic groups or "racial" categories? How many of us are daring enough to get outside of our comfort zones to at least converse with such persons?

Politics at its best is about service towards others, but at its worst is nothing but a game where one side is always trying to outdo the other side and win by proving that "my side is ALWAYS right and your side ALWAYS wrong!" This is very obvious especially if you listen to the political talking heads on TV or on the radio. But the truth is not always that black or white (no pun intended) though and we have to be willing to examine the nuances that make up every day life. But we can only do so if we are coming from a place where we have embraced the same love and forgiveness that has been extended to us from God and offer it to others.. If God's compassion and love know no boundaries, who are we to set limits?

Maybe we can learn more from one another in this "teachable moment", but it will take the courage to at least engage in non-judgmental dialogue with one another...

"If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both. " 1 John 4:20-21 (The Message)

Stephen Oladotun Akinduro