We can learn a lot...
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We can learn a lot about what the story of the Passover has to do with Christians from our Jewish friends. An early twentieth-century British rabbi, Morris Joseph, put it well: "Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being." In his view it is "God's protest against unrighteousness, whether individual or national." The black church has used the text responsibly then in understanding it as a story about African Americans, as an affirmation of their chosenness and their value, as the promise of freedom and justice.
America certainly needs more justice. A Columbia University study released early in the year found that in 2012, 27.2% of African Americans were in poverty compared to 25.6% of Hispanics and only 12.7% of whites. U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics in 2009 showed that 39.4% of the prison population was black, far above the percentage of Americans in the general population as a whole. Black men, it seems, are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men. Black men are more likely to be targets of police action, as evident in the recent shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. We need the Passover story to interpret these statistics and become committed to protest against such injustice. The Passover bears out the witness of Eleanor Roosevelt who once said: "Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." Of course, if we believe that we will not want to be on the sidelines but rather follow the advice of the famed lawyer Clarence Darrow: "Justice has nothing to do with what goes on in a courtroom. Justice is what comes out of the courtroom." With God in charge, doing the work, the Passover protest against injustice is something that belongs in the streets, in city hall and ballot box protests, as well as in our everyday interracial interactions.
America certainly needs more justice. A Columbia University study released early in the year found that in 2012, 27.2% of African Americans were in poverty compared to 25.6% of Hispanics and only 12.7% of whites. U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics in 2009 showed that 39.4% of the prison population was black, far above the percentage of Americans in the general population as a whole. Black men, it seems, are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men. Black men are more likely to be targets of police action, as evident in the recent shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. We need the Passover story to interpret these statistics and become committed to protest against such injustice. The Passover bears out the witness of Eleanor Roosevelt who once said: "Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." Of course, if we believe that we will not want to be on the sidelines but rather follow the advice of the famed lawyer Clarence Darrow: "Justice has nothing to do with what goes on in a courtroom. Justice is what comes out of the courtroom." With God in charge, doing the work, the Passover protest against injustice is something that belongs in the streets, in city hall and ballot box protests, as well as in our everyday interracial interactions.
