The Babylonian Talmud explores the notion that individual countries and even municipalities have angels assigned to provide for good governance, oversight, and presumably justice as well. These angels are ministering spirits who represent God Almighty. It is God that institutes human government for the common good, the promotion of peace and prosperity, the protection of the people, and the punishment of evildoers. Yet Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, included these words in the text:
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
No one I know is suggesting that our Republic be abolished. But clearly there is cause for a correction in how it interacts with ordinary Americans. We the People today are witnessing an uncommon brutality from the federal government, unleashed to settle petty political scores, make trivial and unfounded points, and to sow chaos and confusion. What is particularly unsettling is the absence of any divine attributes such as mercy and justice, and human qualities such as courtesy, common sense, and discretion in the rules of engagement that our federal law-enforcement agents impose. Innocent civilians are being seriously injured or beaten, and occasionally shot dead with little discretion. Such is what happened this past week to Ms. Renee Good of Minneapolis, MN.
Minneapolis
The Dakota Sioux lent the root of the word “Minneapolis” (water), and the city was incorporated in 1854. One cannot but notice that Minneapolis is one of the two “twin cities.” The two cities are separated by the Mississippi River. There are approximately 428,000 residents, 94% of whom are U.S. citizens. The median age of Minneapolis residents is 33 years. There are several tens of thousands of Somali ex-pats in Minneapolis, and there is the rub. This president appears intent on creating hardship, if not driving out, people of East African heritage (specifically Somalia).
Christianity is the major religion in Minneapolis, though there are a growing number of mosques springing up to cater to the East African populations. Minneapolis has had a checkered past in terms of politics and society. It has grappled with anti-integration sentiment, with support for the Klan and anti-labor groups, as well as antisemitic sentiment as well. For a moderate-sized city that hovers around or slightly less than half a million residents, the city has had its struggles over the last century.
It was in Minneapolis on May 25, 2021, for example, that an African American named George Floyd was killed while restrained (i.e., handcuffed and pinned to the ground). Officer Derek Chauvin is currently serving a sentence for murder and will be eligible for parole in 2035 or 2036 at the earliest.
To the angel of Minneapolis
Our Scriptures tell us that you and others of your kind serve specific and important functions between our Creator and we who are His creation. We read of stories where you appear as ministering spirits and provide protection and encouragement, not just in ancient days, but even today. You do this particularly, but perhaps not exclusively, for those mortals who love and fear God.
You must know our frailties, the weaknesses of our flesh, our carelessness and indifference to what should occupy our thoughts, and the hardness of our hearts toward others. You know that He who commands you looks to our inward nature, while we are more concerned with superficial matters such as the color of our brother or sister’s skin, the clothes they wear, the texture of their hair, the strange accents they have as they attempt to speak our language, and where our Maker decided they should be born. Often, our fears and hatred cloud our judgment. Just as Cain committed acts of violence against his brother, we too are quick to wrath.
I ask that God might empower you to protect the citizens of Minneapolis against those law enforcement officials who, in violation and disregard of the basic law of the land, would seek to do harm to Minneapolitans. Surely not everyone who wears a badge and takes an oath is wicked, and I ask that you do what you can to foster restraint and patience as they follow lawful orders. Let them be reminded of their own women and children, friends and parents, and how these ICE agents, National Guardsmen, FBI agents, and Homeland Security personnel would want their loved ones treated on the street by masked strangers with weapons and often little patience.
For the demonstrators, I hope that there is temperance as well. Not every law enforcement officer wishes to harm civilians. In this country, we were given the right to peaceful protest, and I hope there is something you can do to de-escalate tensions as people of good conscience and in good faith exercise this right. Just as there are wolves ready to mix with the sheep, there are nefarious individuals who would loot, burn, and run rampant in this fair city. Provide a hedge that they might not put others at risk, that they be apprehended, and that they be held accountable for whatever malice they perform.
And I ask the God we both serve to have mercy on the soul of Renee Good and on her family in their sorrow.
Abraham Lincoln concluded his second inaugural address with these words as the Civil War drew to a close:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
These words are as appropriate today as they were in 1865.
William Blake
This essay is based more or less loosely on a work by British author, poet, and artist William Blake (1757-1827). This work is called America: A Prophecy. In this, he speaks of the oppression of King George III and the American spirit of freedom and self-determination. With much effort and bloodshed, our forefathers secured our birthright, but not for it to be lost or taken from us on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Never one to trust popular heroes and the worship of these men, Blake charted his own eccentric path through the dark days of the American Revolution.
#ReneeGoodMurder
#ICE
