Still No Justice

In 1992, five police officers were acquitted of any guilt in the beating of Rodney King. At that time Jesse Jackson spoke up and said that “today we have witnessed a miscarriage of justice!” Those were powerful words then and in light of recent events are still words that haunt us today.  In the not guilty verdict of the trial of George Zimmerman, we have once again witnessed yet another “miscarriage of justice.” When I heard the verdict my heart sank. My friend and colleague,  Rev. John C. Dorhauer, Conference Minister of the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Crhist posted on Facebook, “No justice for Trayvon. Is this really who we want to be?” My answer would be no, this is not what I want to be and I expect better from a nation who prides itself on justice for all. 

It is true, I do not believe that George Zimmerman intended to kill Treyvon Martin, but the idiotic “gun laws” of the State of Florida, vigilantism, profiling or shall I say it, institutional racism, and permission given to grown men by the State of Florida, to fantasize  about being a community hero allowed this “miscarriage of justice” to happen. No, there were probably no laws broken – it would appear that both the victim and the assailant were defending themselves in a situation that got out of hand. The injustice may not even be that in the end there was a death of another American teenager.The injustice is the language and the attitude of George Zimmerman who assumed that a black youth with a hoodie over his head on misty, rainy night was up to no good. This is, to me, the wrong that was unleashed that night and an indication that racism and the injustice still rears its ugly head in our nation and there are still grown men and women who still believe that all black youth are up to no good. I cringe to think that if the roles were reversed, Treyvon Martin would not be off to church today, like the Zimmerman family, but facing his first day of life in prison. Is this really who we want to be?

 The prophet Isaiah, one among many prophets, speaks to injustice so powerfully and with such passion. He says, 

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” Isaiah 1:16-17.  

 Having found much solace in the prophet Isaiah over the years, I cannot help, but think that we have not learned anything – there is still no justice.  We are still living in a fantasy world thinking that God adores our laws and our expressions of faithfulness, but I’m here to say that in light of this verdict and countless other atrocities that plague our dark and sickening relationship with race, we are not pleasing God. How do I know? The prophets tells us so. So what can be done? 

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean…” the prophet tells us what we need to do and what is pleasing to God. The good news is that this is an invitation to change our ways and just as I believe we are not pleasing God with our actions, God still believes in us and knows that we have the hutzpah to make it right, to wash the blood from our hands, and stand for justice for all people, justice that stands up against racism, justice that stands against idiotic gun laws, justice that stands against the privileged and the powerful, and justice that stands for ‘kingdom values’ and not American values. Today, like the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, I “walk and stand in solidarity with the family of Trayvon Martin” and believe with all my heart that one day “justice and righteousness WILL flow like an ever flowing stream…”