Submitted by Phyllis Jones, SON Sr. Staff Writer | photo credits: First Church SDA Church
Unfortunately, there’s nothing new about police brutality whose victims are primarily African Americans….Trayvon Martin, Philando Castille, Breona Taylor, Ahmuad Abrey, Huntsville’s own Dana Fletcher and so many more, known and unknown. Tragically, these deaths are at the hands of those who used those same hands to take an oath to “serve and protect”.
In light of the recent tragic death of George Floyd from Minneapolis, MN, and all of the out cries and protests that spurred from it, Debleaire Snell, Senior Pastor of the First Seventh-day Adventist Church (Huntsville, AL), decided that a conversation, a healing conversation, was needed. Pastor Snell expressed, “One conversation will not make things better, but I do believe this conversation can allow us to come together in unity and make a path to move forward.” Anthony Daniels (Alabama State Representative – District 53), Devyn Keith (Huntsville City Council President – District 1), Stephanie R. Strong (Regional Director – Alabama Faith in Action) and David Person (Journalist/Radio Personality) were panelist who joined in the conversation with Pastor Snell. Each shared their views on police brutality that continues to plague African Americans in dramatic fashion across the country.
Pastor Snell facilitated the conversation and has watched the George Floyd video several times. He stated, “It’s been a challenging week, but not a unique week. Just watching the video of the murder, of Mr. Floyd, the abrasiveness of it, struck me in a different way.” He goes on to ask the other panelist to share how they were impacted.
“As an African American father, as an African man, and as an American, I was profoundly sad and furious of what I saw”, stated David Person. “Many whites and others are outraged at what they saw. Unless white America, as a collective, decides that racism is not an aberration, but it’s something that’s been baked into the infrastructure of our nation, until that happens, we will continue to live these experiences as we have been in one form or fashion since 1619.”
Stephanie Strong passionately shared her feelings. “What I saw was venom. Venom of hatred rolled from his [Derek Chauvin] heart to his knee. I saw the intentionality to kill this man. It evoked in me a seething anger and triggered the trauma that already lives in our bodies. It continues to traumatize our communities over and over again. It’s like a wound that will not heal.”
Understandably, Pastor Snell interjected, “It a resurrected trauma that we try to lay to rest, but it can’t because it continues to be brought back and forth.”
“I could only watch it once”, Representative Daniels stated. “After seeing what we fight for each and every day and individuals would brush it off by saying, ‘it’s not like that anymore.’ I thought about all of those incidents that weren’t caught on tape, whereas the person got away. We have to start looking at elections differently. We have to understand that mayors and city councils appoints the chief of police. We elect district attorneys that prosecute. We elect state legislatures that make laws. We elect governors that’s able to forgive a person for a crime that they committed. When my two year old son turns 15, how am I going to have this type of conversation with him? In the interim, what can I do to help move the needle so I don’t have to have this conversation with my son about being careful?”
Councilman Devyn Keith responded by saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is worth a million words. For an elected official, you see a system. This is probably not the first time that this individual mishandled someone’s affirmation that these handcuffs are too tight or I can’t breathe. I saw 18 weeks of training that led up to that one knee or the lack of training that led up to that one knee.”
Pastor Snell wants the Christian community to understand that being angry or indignant is not a volatile, sinful response. What African Americans are living with is a real pain. What people are feeling is a righteous anger. It’s nothing that people need to be in repentance of or have to confess. It’s something that needs to be channeled into meaningful action that’s going to create a long term impact. He also stressed that it’s ok to weep and mourn. It doesn’t mean that people don’t have faith or trust in God. It just means that people, especially Christians have a heart that is sensitive to suffering.
Pastor Snell asked the panelists a few other questions, however, one in particular stood out. How do African Americans begin to function as a community beyond the outrage? Representative Daniels suggested, “Channel that energy back to the ballot box. This is not a partisan fight. We have to have a conversation about common ground. We need to have a psych re-evaluation of officers who are employed. Make sure elected officials are held accountable.”
Strong referenced one of her organization’s principles. “The action is in the reaction. We must hold officials accountable. The power of the people is the most effective commodity to negotiate power. We need to be the architects of our own public policies and make sure elected officials have agendas that will work for the black community.”
Person, not forgetting what has been done, but acknowledges that redemption is in order. “This is something that we have been dealing with in this country for 400 years. Never a respite. We have to acknowledge that this is an ongoing struggle. In order for it to end, we have to engage in the struggle and embrace it. At some point, we are going to have to see beyond what the officer did. It’s a complicated complex situation, but we must see him as a human being who needs redemption.”
Councilman Keith expressed the importance of being good examples. “You need to be the best example that your children can have. If you don’t vote, your children won’t know the importance of it. If you don’t have conversations about what’s going on, your children won’t know or understand what’s going on. Be the best example of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in someone’s life, for the change that you think is needed.”
It is Pastor Snell’s prayer that something was said by the panelist that would encourage the African American community to keep pressing forward. The healing conversation took place Saturday, May 30th, during the time which First Church’s online Sabbath services are normally held. Pastor Snell fervently stated, “We’re trying to promote healing. We can’t go on with service as normal when people are suffering.”
A Healing Conversation can be seen in its entirety on First SDA Church’s YouTube page.