I posted those two lines yesterday morning and then wrote the following yesterday evening. I was about to share and then news of the #Dallas tragedy broke.

Instead of posting, I sent the following to about 15 of my black friends that I respect. I asked them to let me know if I am listening well. They all said I was. Almost all of them asked me to share this.

The shooting of the police were beyond tragic, they were evil. But I wouldn’t want that evil to keep me from another evil – being silent, when I felt like something needed to be said, because “we will have to repent not merely for the hateful words & actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”(MLKJr)

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So Caucasian brothers and sisters, please listen.

I’m grieved by the bloodshed.
I’m angry about the “yes, but” responses.

If our response to the social media outcry on #AltonSterling and #PhilandoCastille is

…yes, but we don’t have all the facts
…yes, but here are some more facts
…yes, but most police officers are not that
…yes, but did you see their criminal record,

then I am led to conclude that these responses stem from either

some form of arrogance / pride / racism

OR from ignorance.

And I TRULY hope that it is the latter for most. Otherwise I wouldn’t write this. I wouldn’t see the point to.

What I have to say is not about racism, it’s about ignorance, hoping that there is simply a blind spot for some of us, that we need to expose.

This is the ignorance, this is the blind spot, that I am talking about:

EVEN IF some or all of the above “yes, buts” mentioned above were true (and we will leave that conversation off the table for now, please and thank you), we still MUST pay attention to what our black brothers and sisters have to say in light of it.

If my wife tells me that she doesn’t feel loved by me, it would be stupid for me to try to convince her that she does. “Yes, but” is an ignorant and potentially destructive response. Something is clearly broken and not the way it should be. The wise response is to at least begin with a posture of listening to figure out what’s going on and why she said what she said.

Our black brothers and sisters are not primarily trying to convince us of something regarding two dead black men caught on camera in the last week, though two image bearers of God who have been fatally shot would be enough reason to raise our voice, for sure, but instead what I hear them saying is,

“In light of what you just saw,

will you please listen now?

There is much more to this story.”

I’m still grieving. Really, I’m not very emotional, and it’s been a hard week for me. But I fear there will be more grieving if we continue ignorantly.

Let’s refrain from “yes, but”. It focuses on the platform and ignores the person speaking. Let’s listen. Let’s ask. Let’s act.