Inflamatory images
My soul has been in anguish. Being a citizen of my beloved United States, being an intercessor for America yet acutely aware of its flaws, being a father who loves my family and wants a legacy of peace and prosperity for my children and grandchildren, being a person who loves God and believes the Bible — I think I’ve reached a breaking point. The media outlets have crushed my soul. What can I do? So I cried out to God. I walked and prayed. He heard me.
It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Imagine patriotic scenes: soldiers planting the flag on Iwo Jima; the crossing of the Delaware by General Washington; the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Or recall terrible images: the explosion of the space shuttle after its launch; the Twin Towers as they disintegrated. Images do communicate. They convey ideas as well as stir our emotions. Images are icons that stand for something real.
The Bible says the tongue can set the world on fire. Words can rally nations to a righteous war, motivate armies to battle fearful enemies, or cause lawless mobs to destroy cities. Words spoken in hatred can murder people. This is especially true for videos. Television has power to incite, to motivate. Images can be so inflammatory that judges will sometimes prevent juries from viewing horrific crime scenes, to preserve impartial judgment.
Juxtapose two recent videos. On one screen, a white cop kneels on a black man’s neck. The man begs for mercy but none is given. The black man never strikes the officer. He isn’t violent nor threatening. Pinned to the ground, he dies after eight minutes. On the other screen, a white woman stands outside the locked door of her shop. She begs three black men not to loot her store but they smash the window with a board. One of them grabs the woman in a headlock and pounds his fist into her face while another picks up the board and hits her with it. She never raised a hand to resist. No police arrived to help.
What do you feel imagining these scenarios? They are both true. They happened days ago. These are inflammatory images. You can’t watch them without being moved to anger. Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words. I saw them. I can’t un-see them. These videos hurt me. I’m damaged because I’m drawn into something I can’t fix, an evil that repulses me. Thanks to the internet, these videos are circulating everywhere. TV news has repeated the first video but not the second. As for the bad cop, he is being held accountable. The thugs battering the woman? No justice for her.
It is hard — but necessary — to put yourself in the other person’s place, to walk in their shoes. It is difficult to be sober, to not react, to allow reason to prevail over blind anger. You may want to strike out, burn something, shoot someone. It’s no wonder gun sales are spiking. People are afraid. Who will protect the innocent?
History indicts our white ancestors. May 31 was the anniversary of the worst race riot in America, in 1921. It was whites shooting blacks. A white mob burned down homes and destroyed businesses in the Tulsa Greenwood District. Thirty-five blocks were leveled. Men, women, and children were killed — about 300. Thousands became homeless. U.S. history books leave such stories out. We all have a past of which to repent. One day God will ask, “Did you learn to love?”