"Between 1880 to 1940, white Christians lynched nearly five thousand black men & women in a manner with obvious echoes of the Roman crucifixion of Jesus. Yet these 'Christians' did not see the irony or contradiction in their actions.”- James H. Cone, The Cross & The Lynching Tree
2. Just as Cone notes, "The conspicuous absence of the lynching tree in American theological discourse and preaching is profoundly revealing," so too is theological condemnation of racist police shootings also conspicuously missing—particularly in white churches.
3. But here's the truth: You can't talk about #GoodFriday with any kind of moral relevance—any understanding of how Christ's crucifixion occurs all around us—without discussing police shootings, without condemning the murder of black bodies by agents of the state.
4. The crucifixion is not an ancient, historical event. We witnessed its horror again, two weeks ago, when Stephon Clark was shot 20 times in his own backyard for the unforgivable crime of holding a cell phone.
5. Christ was crucified in the bodies of Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, John Crawford, Amadou Diallo, Walter Scott, Akai Gurley, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile.
In every state-sanctioned death, we see Jesus' own broken body.
In every state-sanctioned death, we see Jesus' own broken body.
6. The holes in Christ's hands and feet are reflected in Stephon Clark's beautiful, God-given form, which Sacramento police officers desecrated so egregiously that Muslim leaders were unable to ritually bathe him—officers who then had the audacity to handcuff his lifeless body.
7. Just as no one was arrested for killing Jesus—just as the lynching tree became a tacit part of American governance for decades—so too does the state habitually refuse to hold those guilty of modern crucifixion responsible for their actions.
8. Because, just as Jesus' arrest and public execution were meant to silence a movement resisting imperial oppression, police killings have become a tool for terrorizing communities of color.
9. If our government and wider culture truly found these deaths abhorrent, we would take the necessary steps to prevent them. We would convict the officers responsible.
10. Instead, @PressSec—echoing the words of those who condoned lynching—called racist police shooting "a local matter." Juries rarely convict even when officers *are* tried. And so the crucifixion plays out in our streets again, and again, and again.
11. Christians must speak up—and white Christians in particular must protest, organize, and pressure legislators to stop police shootings. Otherwise, tears shed at a #GoodFriday service ring frightfully hollow when paired with silence in the face of modern crucifixions.
