“In faithfulness to our Savior who lived a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.” This the end of one of the first statements that Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Diocese of Washington made in response to President Trump’s deployment of the millitary in riot gear using tear gas and force to clear the Lafayette Square so he could walk over and stand in front of an Episcopal church holding up the Bible. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church also responded by saying, “For the sake of George Floyd, for all who have wrongly suffered, and for the sake of us all, we need leaders to help us to be “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
I am thankful that both bishops helped us focus on the real issue: the murder of George Floyd. In the midst of the diverging coverage of the protests, destructive activities and conflicts between the demonstrators and the police, our country has a habit of following the sensational distractions (such as looting, smoke producing tear gas, the sound of shooting rubber bullets and conflicts actions between the hand-raising protesters and the riot-gear-enhanced police force) and forgetting the deep-seeded issue that we need to address if we are to work toward lessening the possibility of this happening again.
My good friend and colleague, Richard Webb, a resident of Minneapolis, posted this: “Please remember that with all the energy, fury, and the comments made in posts, about the looting, damage, and destruction, driven in part by the preferential treatment provided to 4 police officers who have now been fired and charged, not convicted for murdering another Black man. Please do not turn away from seeing and hearing the same call of Black Lives Matter. Stop killing us in the street, stop killing us in education, stop killing us with mass incarceration, stop killing us in employment, stop killing us in church, stop killing us in every social institution built to maintain, and sustain white dominance. This is not a new song, this is an old harmony normalized globally. This might be the first time you are actually hearing the melody and you are witnessing the cities burning across the country. To others, this is just the remix and we are tired of hearing and witnessing another remix. . . . Take some time to really understand in a deeper way, the foundation of No Justice - No Peace. Make a commitment to being a solution, instead of providing an opinion that may not be informed, . . . this is a time to fully disrupt the idea, myth, and behaviors that support "non-racist". This is a time to live as an anti-racist, anti-oppressor, and truly live into building a beloved community.”
In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, as a result of coordinating and facilitating interracial dialogue involving 9 major religious communities across the greater Los Angeles area, I wrote a book titled, “The Bush Was Blazing but Not Consumed.” The central idea is to develop and facilitate time and place where we can burn with passion for justice and yet not be consumed or consume others. We witnessed many racial injustice fires burning and instead of it being a burning bush, a holy fire that brought people together to transform the oppressive system, it inevitably got coopted into an unholy fire that burned and consumed people and properties. These unholy distractive fires, embraced by the media, reinforce and spin one more time the cycle of destruction, setting the stage for the next destructive fire. This destructive cycle has replayed itself many times in my lifetime and surely will replay again if we do not act to disrupt this unholy fire and transform it into the burning bush. Just as the burning bush was the place where Moses and God made a plan to liberate the Israelites who was enslaved for generations, we must build a burning bush that gathers leaders, whether they know they are leaders or not, to plan a transformative and liberating strategy so that we can truly blaze with our passion for justice but not be consumed or consume others.
The Kaleidoscope Institute pledges to:
- Keep our eyes on the real issue and naming systemic racism and oppression.
- Design processes to create gracious and brave space (cyberspace and physical space) for people to dialogue on hot topics without consuming each other.
- Engage institutions and organizations to focus on, not be distracted from, the centuries-long, deep-seated issues that we as a nation must confront and faithfully work through with real encounters, real skills to listen with understanding and real actions that truly transform our system into “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Here are some of the resource/programs that the Kaleidoscope Institute provides:
- Building Bridges Now – Dialogues on Race Relations and other important issues of our time
- Anti-Racism Training for Churches and Not-for-Profit Organizations
- Neighborhood Interracial Dialogue
- Law Enforcement and Community Dialogue
- Law Enforcement Anti-Racism Training
- Anti-Racism Training for Legal System
Join us in building the pathway to ending systemic racism, and the oppression and killing innocent people simply because of the color of their skin. Join us and transform yourself and your community to truly “seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.” Write us ([email protected]) and let us know how can assist you and your community on this pathway for justice. Or you can make an appointment (ki.appointlet.com) to talk to one of our KI Associates to discuss how KI can help you and your community discern the truth, and foster justice and wellness in your community.
The Rev. Dr. Eric H. F. Law
Founder and Executive Director