My first job out of college was as a Youth Pastor in a small town in West Texas. I was there for four years and I learned more about ministry (and life) than I ever did in the 6-8 years I spent in seminary. One thing I discovered is that no matter their age, people love to learn about and express themselves in multiple and creative ways. The journey towards a deeper understanding and expression of one’s identity is lifelong and cannot be trapped into a certain age group. God created us in such a powerful and mysterious way that fully appreciating how we are made takes a lifetime.
One of the simple teachings I used with youth and their families was to ask each of them to bring something from home, an object that they felt best expressed who they were. Most folks jumped at the chance both to share who they were for the benefit of the group, but also for their own understanding.
I was reminded of this lesson a couple of weeks ago when DC’s new police chief was invited by a Council Member for a community-wide discussion that was going to be held at the Festival Center. I have to be honest, I was not all that excited about the event. I have seen more than my share of community discussions with leaders from the police department in DC and other cities and these “public discussions” tend to devolve into gripe sessions focusing on how we can lock more people up for longer periods of time. To hell with long-term and viable solutions to create public safety. Instead, these discussions center on more cops, more prisons, and tougher sentences; proposed solutions that have not worked for 50 years.
However, I was still open to the conversation, though I made one simple request: the police chief and her contingent would be welcome, but like everyone else who enters the Festival Center, they would need to come unarmed. Frankly, I did not think a lot of this one request because it was meant to be a community discussion and who needs a gun to talk and to listen? Oh how little I understood how much identity is wrapped up in weapons by so many people, especially for the police. My request was not taken seriously; it was laughed off.
They eventually found another venue for the event, but the refusal to even consider not being armed for a community discussion on public safety has stayed with me. Why was my request so easily dismissed? The fact that everyone I have shared this story with has also laughed off my request reveals to me how hegemonic guns have become with the intentions of keeping peace and with serving and protecting, which are the proclaimed purposes of the police. Sadly, we have just accepted that armed police automatically bring about peace. I vehemently disagree.
Study after study reveals that even the mere presence of guns increases the likelihood of violence. Thus, the gift of the invitation to the police chief of DC to be in the Festival Center was to discover more of their identity as a peacekeeper than as a gun carrier. Sadly, the police turned down that invitation without even considering it.
Seeing how socially accepted it is to keep the police armed at all times – even when they will be simply talking to the community about public safety! – only deepens my belief that we need more than surface-level reforms when it comes to public safety. We need the police to occupy an entirely new identity and role in society.
