Race, Grace, and Michael Dunn

In truth, I did not want to write this post. I intentionally gave myself some time to calm down, so I did not go public with some words inspired more so by emotion than the Spirit. But, it is worth broaching the topic, so here I go.

If you are not familiar with the Michael Dunn case, Google it and pick a reliable news source (Hint: Nothing with its own 24 hour channel) and read up a little. Or read my quick summary here.

On Black Friday 2012, Jordan Davis and three friends, all black teens (if you don’t feel this is an important detail, stick with me, because I promise you it is all-important), pulled up to a Gate gas station on the Southside of Jacksonville. Moments later Michael Dunn and his fiancé pulled up next to them. The young men's rap music was playing loudly and Dunn asked them to turn it down. The driver complied. Jordan Davis was sitting in the back seat, he cursed at Dunn and said to turn the music back up.

At this point the stories diverge. One is told by Dunn. The other is told by the young men, witnesses at the gas station, and interestingly enough, Dunn’s own fiancé. Dunn’s account says he saw a shotgun in the car and that Davis threatened to kill him. He feared for his life . . . and in his fear (naturally) chose to get out of his own car and continue escalating the argument.

The other account says that Dunn and Davis argued back and forth and at a certain point Dunn reached in his glove compartment pulled out and gun and began firing. 

No one disputes the following however. 

Ten shots were fired. 

Nine entered the car. 

Three struck Jordan Davis. 

He was killed.

Dunn was tried in Jacksonville last month for one count of 1^st degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, and a lesser gun charge. He was convicted of the four less serious charges and the jury was deadlocked on the murder charge leading to a mistrial on that count.

He will spend the rest of his life in prison.

So, three observations about this case:

1. He got life, so let’s just drop it?
2. Two different worlds
3. Ultimate reality

The first actually mirrors my very first reaction to the verdict. I was unsurprised. When you spend time in communities like mine, you learn to not put too much hope in the legal system acting like a justice system. But, my very first thought was, “Three attempted murders, 20 years per, served consecutively, he’s done for. That works for me.”

But, as I thought about it, that answer no longer made sense. Because this trial and this case is much bigger than how much time Michael Dunn will serve and whether or not he dies in prison.

This is a case about whether or not young black men can go to gas stations, get into arguments, and not get killed. Plain and simple. This is the single biggest issue on the table here.

Because if you honestly believe that if Jordan Davis was white, the music was country, and Michael Dunn claimed his same story; that the case’s outcome would be the same, you’re living in a fantasy. Jordan Davis’ race was the primary factor in why he was shot.

I don’t care if he swore at Dunn. I don’t care if he initiated the disagreement (which he didn’t). I don’t care if he escalated the situation. I don’t care about any of that.

None of it gives you the right to shoot and kill him.

But in the city of Jacksonville, in America, in 2014, this is currently what this case is about. And this is why it must be retried. And this is why Dunn must be found guilty.

If Dunn is not guilty on the murder charge the suggestion is this: “Killing black people in Jacksonville is ok (as long as you felt threatened first).”

You may think I’m coming on too strong here. But I assure you, that am holding back. To me, that is a conservative reading of this case.

And let me add this. A significant minority of white folks (but more than just outliers) feel threatened by ALL black people. So, if this case is not retried with a different result, we could have an even bigger problem on our hands.

Jelani Greenridge put it better than I can on his blog: 

“You know what makes me uncomfortable? The idea that I might get shot at a gas station if I’m listening to Lecrae, Trip Lee, or any other artist that sounds like someone else’s idea of ‘thug music’ . . . When we’re talking about a systemic racial bias that subtly provides a veneer to the legal justification—not just figurative, but literal targeting—of young Black males by gun-carrying White people, and you say, ‘let’s not bring race into this,’ what you’re unintentionally declaring is that your desire to be comfortable in the conversation is more important that our desire to not get shot.”

This case is about whether or not black males can be shot at in public.

Second, this case revealed to me the reality of two different worlds that I straddle, but many are unaware of even existing. The way people in my community reacted to this verdict compared to the way people on the other side of Jacksonville reacted is starkly different. In my neighborhood, every pastor sat down the night of Saturday February 15^th and began re-working the sermon for the coming morning. On the other side of the river, most pastors probably saw this was the top story on the news, probably said a well-meaning, heartfelt prayer, went to bed, and forgot the case by Tuesday.

This difference may reveal why my “interpretation” seen above could seem extreme to your worldview. I would challenge you to trade eyes with me some time.

Over the last few weeks, I cannot pull into a gas station without imagining one of these middle school boys I work with . . . lying on the ground . . . dead . . . because he said the wrong thing to the wrong person . . . or maybe for no reason at all.

I walk into the room of our after school program and look at this third grade boy I have known since he was five. Today, I gave him a fist bump and as I type this, I imagine him shot down. Dead. Because he is a black male.

America is a vastly diverse country. But we are not melting pot. We are a salad bar. The experiences of Black Americans and White Americans and Latino Americans and Asian Americans and Native Americans and Arab Americans are vastly different. If you are white, I challenge you to look up this word: microaggression (or here).

The sooner we can see and can admit our experience is different, the sooner we can move towards actual understanding. But as it stands now, these are different worlds.

(Side note, but let me throw it in. These worlds are so divergent . . . I can't hang out with a group of all white people for more than two days. Because at some point, someone will say something . . . and I’ll just have to leave the room. Maybe not physically, but I will completely conversationally and emotionally check out of the situation. White folks, it’s not that you are trying to be racist. You just don’t know any better. You’re ignorant. It’s not your fault. It’s a system you’re stuck in. But, now that I’m letting you know, you should seek to get out of the system. In fact, it’s a moral imperative.)

Third and finally, there is an ultimate reality at play here.

One day, either Michael Dunn will claim not guilty to a much Higher Judge and be found utterly guilty of much more than murder in the first . . . 

or

. . . he will encounter the true and living Christ and on that day, when he enters his plea of not guilty, the Higher Judge will pronounce him cleared of all charges and welcome him with open arms and without hesitation into His Kingdom.

And the same is true of all of us.

We may not have murdered. But we are all racist. We have all insulted and defamed the image of God in one way or another and all of us need an Advocate to speak a better word for us than our own righteousness can.

Thank the Lord Jesus Christ that I am not counting on my own good works, morality, or ethical stamina to get me by, but that I and millions around the world can, on that day, point to Jesus, and say, “I am not guilty because he already took the charge for me. I stand in grace. I stand in righteousness. I stand under a banner that reads ‘It is finished’”

Oh, Lord, I pray that we would learn. I pray that Michael Dunn would encounter You. You are a God who chose a terrorist to be your greatest Apostle. You are a God who chose a murderer to lead his nation of Israel. You are a God who redeemed a man who spent 13 years in prison to be my pastor. Surely, you can save Michael Dunn and I ask that you would.

Honestly, that was hard to pray. But it was right.

We will point to Jesus or we will point at ourselves. I pray we would all know the Savior, who is greater than us.