Name it, Claim it, Face it, Get Rid of it

It was taught to me at any early age, as I was preparing to make my first confession (Roman Catholic), that a generalized confession of sin can be a good start toward reconciliation with The Lord.  It was also told to me that if I could not or would not name a specific sin (not just a commandment I had violated), then it could be that I had thrown a shade over that sin and am refusing to confront it or even acknowledge it as sinful.

This was the day of behind-the-curtain, anonymous confession; the priest could not see the confessor, and the confessor did not have to look the priest in the eye.  In a large parish, one could do this.  In our small parish, however, there was no way the priest would not know to whom he was listening; and given the layout of the small church, not only would everyone be able to see that someone is going into the confessional, it could well be that those confessions could be overheard by someone other than the priest.

It soon came to be that the practice of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) faded away.  I can recall very few who actually went into that confessional.  I don’t remember ever going back myself even though Catholic doctrine teaches that one must not receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion while knowingly in a state of sin (1 Corinthians 11:27); and the only way to be absolved of that sin is to confess.

Even many Catholics (my former Catholic self included) don’t really understand the nature of the confessional.  Protestantism insists it is sufficient to make one’s confession directly to The Lord and thus be forgiven.  The discipline of the confessional, however, is not strictly the idea of priestly authority to absolve one of sin even though a biblical argument can be made (John 20:23, for instance).  The discipline of the confessional is to acknowledge our sinful nature, do an honest self-examination, name the sin(s) aloud, and face the harm that specific sin has caused or can cause.  Only then can we really know of our genuine sorrow, and only then can we really get rid of it.

Racism is the big sin of the day, and no one – NO ONE – is confessing.  The recent death of George Floyd at the hand (or knee) of an apparently overly aggressive police officer has renewed the persistent national rage to the point of boiling over.  The nation is aflame, literally and figuratively.  The flames of righteous anger are in the streets, marching peacefully and in great numbers, demanding that racism be acknowledged and the sin confessed so real social reconciliation can happen.

Here is a hindrance to confessing racism as a sin (by my own admittedly limited observation); there are many who insist they do not see color when they look at another person.  I know they mean well and I’m pretty sure they honestly do not quickly judge a person they see based only on the color of that person’s skin.  However, if these non-racist persons have eyes and the gift of sight, they cannot help but to notice the physical characteristics of a person.  White or black or anything in between, we all clearly see physical attributes.  Depending on our state of mind or biases, we also take special note of certain physical attributes.

With George Floyd, then, it is clearly seen by a certain social narrative that a black man was taken to the ground by a white police officer.  Racists note the contrast; white or black or anything in between, the outrage comes in noting the contrast and immediately jumping to conclusions. 

The video which has been shared (the one I saw with my own eyes) only shows us the restrained man on the ground with an officer’s knee on the back of his neck (I’ve seen this technique many times on the TV show “Cops”).  If we watch the video without sound, we see the restrained man struggling.  Without sound, we see perhaps a criminal suspect resisting arrest, which is a crime itself.  On sight alone, then, we see a police officer doing what he has been trained to do with a suspect who physically resists.  The officer is not only trained but charged to gain control of a situation.  Only when we turn on the sound can we hear the restrained suspect saying he cannot breathe (I’ve heard this on “Cops” many times as well).  Though many have said bystanders were pleading with the officer to get off his neck because Mr. Floyd could not breathe, I didn’t hear those pleas on the video I watched and listened to.  It could be I’m hard of hearing, the sound quality of the video, or the speakers on my computer.  That I did not hear it does not mean others could not hear it.  I only say I didn’t hear it.

What we do not see – and this, I think, is big – is what happened prior to this video being shot.  We do not see any sort of physical exchange that would have compelled the officer to restrain Mr. Floyd and put him on the ground.  Though the crime Mr. Floyd was suspected of was non-violent (forgery), had he become indignant and eventually physically aggressive toward the officer even in only resisting (again, a crime unto itself), the officer was left with no choice but to restrain the suspect.

Mr. Floyd’s death is a tragedy, and there is no way to make it less so.  The upgraded charge to second-degree murder only to satisfy political will and demands will become a problem sooner or later because that charge requires proof that the officer in question had “intent to kill” and that the other officers deliberately “aided and abetted” his alleged “intent to kill”.  On the surface, the officer only had intent to contain the situation so everything could be sorted out.  If Mr. Floyd had been putting up a fight, physically resisting the officer’s instructions, the officer was left with little choice. 

I don’t consider myself a racist, but I do acknowledge certain biases.  I don’t look at Halle Berry and think, “What a gorgeous black woman” (she’s just beautiful), and I don’t look at Barack Obama and think, “What an articulate and clean black man” (as opposed to a certain politician who actually said this out loud and supposes himself non-racist).  I also do not presume to say or to even think one “ain’t black” if one supports the president for re-election. 

It may be that the real racists, the ones who unapologetically see and proclaim color especially in contrast/conflict and for political gain, are the ones who used this video to deliberately manipulate public opinion and provoke social outrage.  The real racists are the ones who insist we see color.  The real racists are the ones who demand we take note that a white police officer aggressively restrained a black criminal suspect who may have been resisting.

Few of us, regardless of our race, can fully escape the accusation of racism, and the sin of racism itself is exacerbated by those who seek to use racism toward a political end.  It is this particular and deliberate bias in which “systemic” racism exists in the human mind and soul, not in institutions.  Until these are called out and removed from the public eye, there will always be a “system” by which human beings – regardless of race – are marginalized, diminished, and presented as less than human.  Only when we are honest enough to confess our own biases will racism cease to be a thing.