St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch stood at the podium three nights before Thanksgiving and announced the St. Louis grand jury would not indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Moments after the announcement, Ferguson exploded in protests, then rage, then flames. Spontaneous protests also broke out in cities and towns across the country and carried on through the Thanksgiving holiday.
The morning after the announcement I received an email from friend and colleague David Bailey, who shared this song, “Don’t Shoot.” It was written and performed by students at Berklee College of Music, who go by the name Fleeceboi. They were so grieved by the announcement that they stayed up all night writing the song. I listened and wept.
On Wednesday, I played "Don’t Shoot" for a group of national and local clergy gathered in Ferguson to learn the lessons of the movement and gain insight for the days ahead. They listened and wept.
Then, two hours later, we got the news: a Staten Island grand jury choose not to indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo, 29, in the choking death of Eric Garner, 43 — even though the killing was caught on tape and the city’s medical examiner had ruled the cause of death: “homicide.”
The Staten Island grand jury’s “non-indictment” announcement is not a new level of injustice. It has simply clarified the nature of the injustice we face. It is clear: The power of racism in our nation is formidable. The medical examiner called it “homicide” and the state sanctioned it.
Fleeceboi’s cries haunted me as young people among us broke into tears and the clergy surrounded them with hands raised in prayer and sobs of deep lament.
“Officer, pleeeease don’t shoot,” Fleeceboi cries. “Doooon’t shoot!”
Listen, lament … then let your lament move your hands, feet, and voices to action. That is the lament of Nehemiah. That is the lament of Jeremiah. That is the lament of Jesus.
Lisa Sharon Harper is Senior Director of Mobilizing for Sojourners.
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