I visited Ferguson, Missouri on the one year anniversary of Michael Brown's shooting death by police. We all know the story of how a black man with hands in the air was shot down in the street. Since that horrific event occurred protests have been going on, fueled by years of anger between blacks and predominately white police force. During my seven day visit with other activists in Ferguson it became apparent how some Christians were in the vanguard of facing heavily militarized police, with tanks ....guns.... tear gas etc. One year later some of these dog tired Christians are still advocating for systematic change in how people of color are treated, by police who swore to protect and serve [ the local community ]. However people who work at Connecticut Juvenile Training School and profess to be Christians are taking the low road when it comes to advocating for justice.
For years the racial animus at CJTS ( and indeed throughout Department of Children & Families ) has systematically targeted employees of color for disproportionate discipline of minor infractions. Key Stone Cop management did not even try to cover up their bias; whenever people of color were disciplined they received the maximum as compared to whites. Yet these so called believers in Jesus at CJTS never once spoke up let alone demonstrated publicly about apparent racial bias. When I think about how clergy in Ferguson are jailed and treated harshly for peaceful protests, versus pseudo Christians at CJTS with lock jaw, it is truly shameful to acknowledge. How can CJTS followers of Jesus watch their peers -black, white, Hispanic- get treated as less than human but say nothing about it ? You can bet on Sunday while in church these same silent Christians are hollering... praising God...falling down while slain in the spirit... or speaking in tongues. Yet no audible sound comes out of these same holy rollers about racial discrimination on the DCF Plantation.
A salute goes out to Jesus followers in Ferguson who truly are disciples, willing to place their bodies on the line for justice. However the same cannot be said about those silent Christians on the CJTS campus. they have sold out for financial concerns while ignoring injustice that is plain to see.
In the final analysis those so called CJTS Christians will have to answer for their cowardice in the face of oppression.
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