From Memphis to Kansas City, police and community must prevent the next Tyre Nichols | Opinion

January was a weeping month for the United States of America. We wept as a man lay haplessly on a football field during a nationally televised game. We wept during the Lunar New Year massacre in Monterey Park, California, that killed 11 people.

Then we began to weep in quick succession: The announcement that another unarmed Black man was killed. The sorrow expressed by law enforcement officials. The pain of a Black mother who cannot watch the video of the fatal beating of her precious son. The pleas from community leaders not to riot in response. The labels of “appalling” and “inhumane” used to describe the footage of the murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee.

Video footage from the savage assault on Nichols during a police confrontation is now public. It now sits before us. Enraging us. Dispiriting us. Condemning us. Challenging us. Even questioning us: asking what we intend to do about such an act of brutality.

First thing we all need to do is weep with those who weep, Romans 12:15 tells us. As a community leader, the way I have chosen to process these moments is to lament, learn and sometimes unlearn, lean on my faith, love without apology, and then lead in a path forward. I would encourage you try this method.

I am grateful that officials have been quick to act. The police chief fired the officers involved in Nichols’ death, and their arrests were announced. Each was charged with murder, along with several other crimes.

Some will read about this case and say we cannot jump to conclusions. Others, upon learning that the officers involved were Black, will feel relieved, thinking that at least the racial element of a white officer and an unarmed Black man is absent from this tragedy. Others will think they are too far removed from Memphis to spend much time thinking about this.

Again, I offer my process and a biblical mandate if we will ever get to a level of understanding and healing.

I am stirred to anger because another life has been lost in this way. That the officers happened to be Black serves as confirmation that this is a systemic problem in our policing system requiring real reform. The distance of this atrocity does not matter, because my faith places no geographic qualification on who is my neighbor, Luke 10 says. We should pray, in this instance, that evil will be exposed in the course of the investigation and punished, as we read in Romans 13.

But as with other tragedies, deeper reflection is required.

There will be unhelpful voices calling us to ignore this as a single case of “bad apples.” There will be those who call for radical and insensible proposals such as eliminating the police or defunding them — a proposal that ignores the very real benefit that law enforcement and government bring when they are doing their duty correctly by promoting order and protect citizens from evildoers. Both of these extremes must be avoided if we are to address the real problems at this moment.

No, the real solution for this actually goes beyond law enforcement.

I long for a day when we have moved beyond events like this. When every individual feels respected and protected by every officer of the law. The evidence that our culture has moved to a better place will be that life itself is seen as invaluable throughout our society.

We all should long and plead that God would usher in that day, because repulsive and heartbreaking videos such as the one from Memphis are almost too much to bear. The grief is so heavy. It shows that day is very far off indeed, and that now is a time for weeping.

In my own lament, I sent the following to Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves to share with her department. Here I share it with you:

Almighty God,

We thank you for keeping watch over our sisters and brothers serving this city as law enforcement officers. As we are all shaken by the happenings in Memphis.

We thank you for your constant protection over this department as they go into service each day. Thank you for the overwatch they provide for our city. We pray for their mental health and well-being, their safety, and the safety of our community. Lord, we all desire to go home safe. We also pray for their families and loved ones who understand the stress and strain of this noble service. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Darron LaMonte Edwards is lead pastor of United Believers Community Church in Kansas City.