Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Irreverin

Home
Progressive Christian
Read the Comments: Terence Crutcher and Our Sin of Silence

Read the Comments: Terence Crutcher and Our Sin of Silence

Last updated on: September 20, 2016 at 9:10 am by Erin Wathen

Read the Comments: Terence Crutcher and Our Sin of Silence 2016-09-20T09:10:44-07:00 Erin Wathen

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Again. AGAIN.

Again this morning I am sitting in front of the screen with the struggle that is starting to feel all too familiar–to watch, or not to watch?

I do not want to watch the video of Terence Crutcher being shot by police. It is no small thing to witness the end of a human life. I’ve been in the room when people die. More than once. In those cases, it is a sacred thing. But it is no small thing, that passage. It is a holiness that I hold lightly–but never take lightly. And watching death play out on my computer screen–that feels like taking it lightly.

To view a death that is ‘trending’ in the news also feels like complicity in the culture of violence-as-entertainment. It’s a culture that I oppose, often and vocally. Every death viewed on the screen desensitizes us to the realities of violence, and–I’ll just say it–diminishes the sanctity of life. This man deserves the dignity of not having a million people watch the last few seconds of his life, as though it were a show that we watch on FX after the kids go to bed.

But.

via Pixabay

I also recognize that if I turn away, it’s a choice I make out of privilege. That kind of violence is not a daily factor on the street where I live. It doesn’t follow me home, or watch me closely, or stop me on the corner because of my skin color. So in choosing to not look, I am choosing the privilege of my own relative safety, my own sheltered world.

So lately, I’ve been choosing to watch. Because this keeps happening. It’s not that it’s happening more often, but the evolution of the camera phone and our so-connected lives are putting it front of us more often. Every day, it seems. Again. And I have to wonder if part of why it keeps happening is because people like me chose not to watch for so long.

I’m not choosing my own comfort and safety any more. I’m going to watch.

And also–I’m going to read the comments.

I know this goes against everything I’ve ever said about “step away from the comments section,” and “do not feed the trolls.” And I still hold those as good rules for life, in general. But in this sort of situation–which KEEPS HAPPENING–those rules no longer apply. It is my own comfort and safety and mental health that I’m choosing when I do not read the comments. I do not want to see the ignorance, the hate, the white rage that dominates these public spaces. I do not want to witness the less overt ways that well-meaning folks perpetuate toxic systems of racism.

But me choosing not to see it is part of the problem. Me “stepping away from the comments section” just means I don’t have to look in the face of what people of color have to look in the face of every day.

So I’m done with that. I’m telling you this, here, so that you can hold me accountable. I’m going to read the comments. I’m going to do my best to understand where white people’s willful ignorance is coming from. But more importantly, I’m reading so that I can better understand what it is that my non-white brothers and sisters are up against.

I’m reading so that I can see what my sins of silence have wrought.

I challenge you, as well. Watch the videos. Read the comments.

I’m not suggesting that you must ENGAGE the comments. I doubt that your quippy response to a stranger’s bigotry–however articulate and profound your remarks may be–will change any hearts or minds in the grand scheme of things. But read it anyway. Sit with the discomfort. Let your stomach turn. That sick feeling is your empathy talking. It is compassion. It is the unsettling spirit that leads to progress and systemic change. Let that feeling have you. Let it lead, and see where it takes you.

The more you let yourself see–and read, and hear–the more ready you may be the next time someone you actually know says something like, “well, he had a record.” Perhaps you can remind them that past crimes are by no means a justification for an in-the-moment execution. The next time someone says “well, they just need to learn to respect authority…” Perhaps you could remind them that disrespect does not come with the death penalty in this country. At least, not officially. The matter of respect being earned is another discussion entirely, of course. But maybe it’s one that you can engage, with people in your life with whom you have an actual relationship. But first, we have to make ourselves see it. We have to stop pretending that we live in another world from the one in which these things keep happening.

Because they just keep happening.

Watching the sickening video, and reading the sickening comments, does not cure the sickness. But it does slowly, somehow, begin to break the sickening silence.

Being a Person

black lives matter

police brutality

progressive christianity

racism

social change

terence crutcher

Previous Post

September 14, 2016

Exit the Echo Chamber: Bipartisanship As An Act of Faith

Next Post

October 8, 2016 How Trump is Making Misogyny Great Again

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category a good week for progress Advent and Christmas Being a Person desert life faith and community Good News for Progressives Lent and Easter Marriage and Family S*^! Jesus Says sabbatical road tripping Spirituality in Culture Talking to Strangers the "Best Stuff I Ever Ate" diet travel Uncategorized writing Writing Prompt Wednesday

Select a Month January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 February 2011 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book of the Bible contains the Ten Plagues of Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Genesis Exodus Leviticus Deuteronomy