Pastoral Response to Charlottesville

Lamentations 3:35-36 asks “When human rights are perverted…does the Lord not see it?”

I will never know what it is like to be a natural-born southerner, or what it’s like to be black. But I recall two separate conversations I’ve had.

One was with a friend who told me his relatives participated in Civil War reenactments, and when I smugly joked, he whole-heartedly said “I have family that died in that war.” Another friend told me that when he returns to his home-town he is referred to as property, as the citizens there will remind him who his family originally belonged to.

Both men look back upon American history in which slavery, the Civil War, General Lee and Sherman have more meaning than my heart could ever comprehend; history that involves the bodies and blood of their ancestors.

So the removal of yet one more Confederate statue sparks a myriad of emotions rooted in the very core of one’s identity and understanding of what they think it means to be an American.

In Charlottesville we saw these feelings, thoughts, and fears erupt into a fiery assault on human rights and a disregard for the Declaration of Independence’s bold claim that “all men are created equal.”

We saw white Christian nationalists, supremacists, neo-nazis and kkk show up to protest the removal of Lee’s statue, an act of free speech regardless if we agree with it or not. In another act of free speech, counter-protestors also came. The result was chaos, with street brawls and violent clashes, leaving one woman and two state troopers dead.

Some say that these two groups of people were two sides of the same coin, each equally at fault and destructive.

I say no.

Here’s why- the white, male, Christian nationalists/supremacists/kkk/neo-nazis came from a place of hate; a dislike based on race and religion. They came from a place in which they did not want freedom for all, just freedom for themselves. We’ve seen their ideologies play out in lynchings, segregated schools, water fountains, marriage laws, unfair arrests, inordinate incarcerations, pay disparity, and tiki torches brandished as very-clear threats.

Black Lives Matter is not the same coin. Black Lives Matter is a response to the hatred that has been exhibited for centuries and the historically documented injustice that has taken place. It is a movement that is a response to the stories we’ve heard and videos seen of black fathers, sons, husbands, lovers and friends who have been shot, shamed, slammed, and stunned into submission.

When Black Lives Matter and counter-protestors came to Charlottesville, they were not part of, or the cause of, the problem. They were the prophetic response to the problem. Their words, signs, and actions were a response to the reality of hate, anger, injustice and unkindness that was around them.

As a result, an angry white Christian man rammed a sedan into a crowd of people holding signs that said “LOVE”, then reversed it to run over even more people. As our Attorney General stated, this was an act of domestic terrorism.

Yes- there is anger on all sides. But let us not demean our nation’s historical truth by saying Black Lives Matter caused hundreds of white Christian nationalists/nazis/kkk to descend upon Charlottesville.

Hate did. Injustice did. Unkindness did. Prejudice did.

As a white Christian male, and as an ordained pastor, I do not condone the actions that took place in Charlottesville. Nor do I think any blame can be placed on the counter-protestors who bravely came to speak out against hate and speak up for love.

Though we cannot undo what has transpired, I apologize on behalf of my gender, my ethnicity and my faith for what has taken place in Virginia.

Respectfully,
Rev. George Miller
Emmanuel UCC
Sebring, FL