As a woman of color living in the United States, who
is woefully underrepresented within my own religious community, there are times
when I feel uniquely seen and heard. Sometimes I am invited onto particular
committees or into particular groups both inside and outside of my community
because of the color of my skin. My opinion is sought on topics that have to do
with culture, diversity, and representation, which gives me a valuable opportunity
to speak up on matters concerning people of color. However, there are other excruciating
times when I feel invisible, like right now.
I don’t blame you. I do feel the need to say
something. There are plenty of prayers being invoked for an end to the violence
of the riots. That’s good. Riots are scary and harmful. I’m just wondering where
the prayers were for Ahmaud Arbery and his family, or Breonna Taylor and her
family, or George Floyd and his family? That is why I feel invisible. All those
who are praying for an end to the riots did not seem to notice that there was
violence before this violence. A riot, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “is
the language of the unheard.”
So now we have looting and violent riots, but even
still, most of the protests taking place are peaceful. I have seen videos of people
standing in front of stores to block others from causing destruction. Other
videos show hundreds, even thousands, of peaceful protesters marching together.
If black people are rioting, it is out of the wounds caused by centuries –
CENTURIES – of injustice, brutality, and murder based on a prejudice which intends
to rob us of our dignity. But if you look closely enough, beyond the prejudice perpetuated
by the media, you will see plenty of white people causing destruction. Are they
angry too? Do they think they’re helping? Or do they simply want to give our
cry for justice a bad name? I do not know, but what I do know is that praying
for an end to violence needs to go beyond the riots.
Praying for peace needs to include a prayer to end violence
by police officers towards black people; the end of violence by those who judge
black people negatively based on the color of our skin; and an end to the violent
mindsets that dehumanize black people, immigrants, natives, and people from
developing countries. This prayer needs to break open the hearts and minds of
those who do not view their privilege as a threat or a problem. Complacency and
silence concerning matters of injustice toward the marginalized creates a
burden of pain that the marginalized can carry for only so long. Complacency
and silence have no place in Christianity.
I am not condoning the violence of riots, nor am I
saying that all police officers are corrupt. Only one police officer knelt on
the neck of George Floyd, but where were the voices of the other three? Silence
is complicity. That is why all four police officers have now been charged in
the death of Mr. Floyd. If the privileged had not been silent all these years,
we would not need to be praying for an end to riots. Unfortunately, I know
there will be a next time. Please, the next time we say, “I can’t breathe,” we
need you to hear us, cry out with us and be compelled to act on our behalf.
Yours in faith, hope, & love,
Sr. Desiré Anne-Marie Findlay