In Search of Hope
Over the weekend, many of us will gather with our faith communities in search of hope as we process the state of the world and the heaviness that we have each experienced in the past week and days.
We learned about the killing of Jayland Walker. This tragedy reinforces the growing need to continue our work for police accountability across the nation. Chicago’s consent decree remains a national model for community-led oversight. Community Renewal Society remains a committed leader and partner with the Empowering Communities Public Safety coalition (ECPS) that was successful in passing the ECPS Ordinance in July 2021. This ordinance creates a structure to ensure that policies and priorities of the Chicago Police Department are rooted in expert knowledge and grounded in the needs and values of the community. Learn about the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability and the position of District Council Members at a virtual summit July 13, 2022. Register to attend here.
Brittney Griner remains incarcerated in Russia. Some reports estimate she may face ten years in prison. We pray for leniency now that she has made a plea of guilty even as she is believed to be wrongfully detained. It is important to note, Russian law does not carry a heavy sentence for the small amount of hash oil that Griner was accused of possessing. Russia’s relationship with the United States is particularly strained because of Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine. Griner is being used as a political prisoner as a reaction to the many sanctions the United States has imposed on Russia.
Griner’s status as a Black queer woman lacks the urgency in response from the United States government one would come to expect on behalf of a national hero who has represented her country globally as an Olympic athlete. According to Griner’s wife, more could be done to negotiate her release. According to her coach, if Griner was a male athlete, the response would be more urgent. The quiet approach to appeal for Griner’s freedom speaks to the challenges the LGBTQIA+ community face for equity, inclusion and honoring their humanity in the United States and globally. We believe Griner has been treated without equity and the humanity she deserves.
The tragedies we are witnessing hits home locally as well. We are enraged by the horrific act of domestic terror in Highland Park during the July 4 parade, as well as the excessive use of force by an off-duty Park Ridge, Illinois police officer against an unarmed 14-year-old boy. Community Renewal Society, as a member of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, shared this statement condemning the mass shooting in Highland Park on July 4. This response has been sent to Governor JB Pritzker, Speaker Chris Welch, President Don Harmon, President Joe Biden, Senator Dick Durbin and Senator Tammy Duckworth.
What have we learned? The actions of the officer to place his knee on the back of a child based on speculation, profiling and discrimination should call us all to action. While we are trying to wrestle with our grief from the mass shootings, we are simultaneously faced with the outcry against racialized violence. People are stricken with grief and fear and are exhausted by the repeated patterns of violence in all of its forms. In these moments of great sorrow and outrage, we cry out to God: what is the good news and where is our hope?
It is important to know that crying out is okay. We have a right to offer our lamentations unto God. Also, we have a responsibility to bear witness to love and to be the light we seek. The painful tragedies we witness across the city, nation and world can seem too large and overwhelmingly inescapable. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us that our humanity is also inescapable and we have a duty and responsibility to share in each other’s fight for freedom and justice. Our outrage is our hope. Our cries and lamentations offer us hope because it means we share in the struggle with others. It means we bear witness and we have not accepted it. Let us be outraged and let us work together to dismantle systems of oppression and stamp out the evil that threatens the humanity of even one.
A GUIDE FOR THE DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS AHEAD
Allow space for questioning: In these moments we must make space for deep questioning and even doubt. Our people must know that questions and doubts are okay!
Make time for communal reflection: Make space for safe listening and sharing. It is in community that we often make sense of communal tragedy. When you gather, consider carving out a couple minutes for people to talk with each other about how they are doing and feeling.
Despair can be captivating, point to hope: Feeling hopeless is not the same as the absence of hope. Our hope in this moment and in these times is that sustained collective action can and will make change. There is more good than bad in our world. We are not talking about hoping for deliverance to fall mysteriously from heaven. We are talking about a hope rooted in the power of raised voices demanding change. Change, including more laws and policies that increase police accountability. Change, including the United States taking action to bring Brittney Griner home. Change, including passing more and stricter bans on assault weapons. Change, including making sure your entire congregation and community participates in the November election.
PRAYER
God of hope, love and justice – remind us of your Word that “I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). Grant us the hope we seek in these moments of sorrow and great tragedy to be the driving force of light that will not tolerate bigotry, racism and violence in any form. May your Light offer us clarity and deepened faith. May your inclusive love revive our hope and offer us deep peace that surpasses our understanding. Amen. Ase.
Join our Virtual Space for Reflection
We invite you to a community gathering and dialogue where we will process our feelings and strive to inspire hope for change. Register for the zoom meeting on Thursday, July 14, 2022 at noon.