Racial Trauma, Empathy, and A Prayer Of the Body
Reflections on the Suffering, Those Left Behind, and A Prayer for Holistic Faith
After these last few publicized cases police brutality towards Black people, now more recently with Jacob Blake, I find myself thinking of families and communities that are bearing the pain, sorrow, and trauma years, maybe even decades after the event. Jacob Blake is fortunately alive at the time I am typing this, but so many have not been fortunate.
I think of those left behind: George Floyd’s nephew. Ahmaud Arbery’s best friend. Breonna Taylor’s lover. Michael Brown’s father.
There are further costs that are tormentingly endured by the family and loved ones well after the cameras and media dies down.
What reimbursement could ever really be adequate to capture the loss?
They no longer see the deceased’s smile, their presence, their warmth. Through death, they are taken away from their positions as fathers, mothers, sisters, mentors, brothers, mentors, etc. Birthdays, weddings, graduations, milestones are all gone. A daughter loses her best friend, a son loses his confidante.
Grandchildren who may be too young at the time to process everything grow up years later and ask
“What happened to Grandma? What happened to Grandpa?”
The grief, bitterness, and trauma is passed down.
I can imagine waking up in the middle of the night after a dream of the deceased 3 years after the event but only to awake in sorrow to be reminded that their death really took place and that their grave site is only 20 minutes away down the street.
There’s a finality to death that later attempts at financial settlement or apologies can never buy back.
In the Hebrew Bible, there is a esteemed collection of books within it called the New Testament. In this collection, we have what is commonly called the Epistle to the Hebrews. I want to draw attention to this verse-
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you are also in the body.” — Hebrews 13:3
The author of the letter to the Hebrews makes the argument here that we should remember — in the sense of not only constant cognitive remembrance but actually go seeking to help and serve- those who are mistreated.
Why?
“Since you are also in the body.”
The author makes it a point to say: “Care for those who are presently mistreated because you are also a human being who can understand, by experience and observation, the burdens of suffering, pain, sicknesses, oppression, and violence on the human body and soul.” The author is simply drawing from the Greatest Commandment in the Hebrew Bible: “Love your Neighbor as yourself.”
You don’t necessarily have to read and completely understand the whole history of racism and injustice in this country and every nuance to know something must be done for the welfare of Black and brown peoples in this country.
We need renewal. We need to be transformed. We need healing. We need wisdom. We are in need of so much.
Blessed Father,
Give us new hearts. We don’t empathize as we should. We are too quick to protect brands, reputations, and triumphalist narratives rather than human beings, who are made in your Image. Give us your heart for people , especially the disadvantaged. The waves of information and headlines that come crashing into our minds every day can cause us to close up for the sake of self -preservation.
Give us ears to hear the cries of the downtrodden, fatherless, hopeless, the raging, deflated, depressed, and defeated. Help us to listen to your faithful witnesses who have been speaking these truths for hundreds of years, even at great cost to themselves. We are deaf to so much.
Give us eyes to see with the sight you have. We think we “see” and perceive what is really happening, but we often do not. Help us to truly see what we should see, and be strengthened by what is only seen on occasion by your grace. (2 Kings 6:17).
Give us feet that are not quick to run into evil, but feet that are quick to run into righteousness. We don’t move as we should. We sit when we should be running. When we do run, we run like it was a 200 sprint rather than for a marathon.
Give us hands that don’t shed innocent blood, but hands that take hold of restoration. Repairing. Rebuilding. Hands that heal. Hands that protect. Let us have the beautiful nail-pierced hands of our Savior Jesus, who held mercy and justice together.
Give us noses that can smell the foulness in the air of our society and the world. Let us not become accustomed to the stench of corruption, faithlessness, manipulation, violence, greed, and the status quo. What should cause us to gag in disgust and horror, cause us to do so.
Give us mouths that will tell the truth even as our voice shakes. The truth concerning ongoing racism, violence, and anti-Blackness that still finds supporters all over.
Let us not say “Peace, peace” where there is no peace, or “All is well” when nothing is well. Let our “Yes” be “Yes” and our “No” be “No”.
Give us the courage to also say “Yes” when many are saying “No” and “No” when many are saying “Yes”, out of a desire for love, justice, and truth.
Give us new minds. Let us have the mind of Jesus. When the suffering are lost in clouds of darkness and mazes of despair, create neural pathways in their brains that lead out of the haze. Let us look to the Resurrection to challenge our understanding of what is possible.
Comfort, strengthen, and hold up Jacob Blake and his family in ways no judge, officer, or counselor ever could. In the days, months, and years to come, be a Rock and Refuge for him, especially on the days where it seems like an agony to continue. Let those who have done evil remember that you are a God who SEES. Execute justice, Lord!
For all the horror his children have witnessed, the cries that erupted from their throats, and for the screams that rattled their rib-cages, give them gallons of healing and provide them a path to resilience and sober hope.
Holy Spirit, make us the kind of people who are worthy of being called by the name “Christ”. Help us not to love in word or talk, but in deed and truth. Forgive us for our apathy, our fear, our distractions, and sloth that grieves you deeply. May your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
