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| Women prisoners, c 1864, Cadillac, France |
This post is inspired by Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar's message on FaceBook. Click here. I agree with his saying that the newspapers and other media, that label the marches as anti-police, miss the point. They're protesting the anti-black, anti-poor, anti-minority, anti-youth, anti-vulnerable, attitude.
Volunteering in a prison, I can personally affirm that fact. Just look at the color of the majority of the prisoners. Look at the predominant nationality. Look at what economic strata the majority of prisoners come from. It all can be simply reduced to the fact that the majority of prisoners are poor--the vast majority. If you have the money to get a good lawyer, you can get away with murder.
Since most of the poor are profiled as a certain race/nationality/ minority, they are viewed and treated differently than the more affluent. Those profiled as such, are presumed guilty before even given their chance in court. That's what I deduce from Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar's comments.
The police aren't the enemy. They're the victims of this culture, too.
Once everyone recognizes that fact, maybe we can focus on figuring out what to do about it. How do you change minds? More importantly, how do you change hearts?
1 comment:
I think another question to ask is how we change the culture that devalues life, family, and generosity of heart.
I worked in the St. Louis ghetto from 1970 to 1976 and I can tell you that the government pays people to stay poor and down by the rules and regulations they have. Fatherless homes are promoted. Since my days there the government is promoting professional victimhood rather than encouraging people to develop their individual talents. Of course, all this is possible because the government is anti-Christ and is actively suppressing Christian virtues if not outright punishing them. It's up to us as individuals to bring Christ to others and to form communities that spread the hope of Christ to others. Otherwise, gangs become the communities of the abandoned.
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