Some of what we can do best with our given influences and voices (whether small or large) is allow it to become a platform for other important voices to be heard. Check this video out comprised of multiple voices and perspectives following the verdict and during the protest.
VOICES: Responses to the Oscar Grant Trial Verdict
Posted byDrew G. I. Hart, PhDPosted inBlack History, Dominant Culture, Justice, Life, Love, Mercy, racism, Subdominant Culture, Suffering, technology, Urban, Video DownloadTags:Christianity, city, evangelical, Faith, God, Jesus, missional emergent, non-violence, oakland, oscar grant, oscar grant trial, peace, police, police brutality, protest, racism, relgion, Urban, violence
Published by Drew G. I. Hart, PhD
Drew G. I. Hart is a theology professor in the Biblical & Religious Studies department at Messiah College with ten years of pastoral experience. Hart majored in Biblical Studies at Messiah College as an undergraduate student, he attained his M.Div. with an urban concentration from Missio Seminary in Philadelphia, and he received his Ph.D. in theology and ethics from Lutheran Theological Seminary-Philadelphia. Drew was born and raised in Norristown, Pa and has lived extensively in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA as well. Dr. Hart’s dissertation research explored how Christian discipleship, as framed by Black theologies and contemporary Anabaptist theologies, gesture the Church towards untangling the forces of white supremacy and the inertia of western Christendom which have plagued its witness in society for too long. As two traditions that emerged from the underside of violent and oppressive western Christian societies, he found Black theology and Anabaptism each repeatedly turning to the particularity of Jesus in the gospel narratives. From that arises an ethic of solidarity with the oppressed and pursuing liberation in Black theology and an ethic of radical peacemaking and ecclesial nonconformity in the Anabaptist tradition. Each challenge the violent and oppressive logics of mainstream western Christianity and salvage the call to follow the way of Christ. Together in dialogue they deepen our analysis of the churches failures and the need for Jesus-shaped repentance. His work beyond teaching and writing has included pastoring in Harrisburg and Philadelphia, working for an inner-city afterschool program for black and brown middle school boys, delivering lectures and leading anti-racism workshops, collaborating with local faith-based organizers and activists in his city, and doing a broad range of public theology. He is also a co-leader for a local Harrisburg faith-based relational network called FREE Together which has collaborated with POWER Interfaith, MILPA, the Shut Down Berks Detention Center movement, and a little with the Poor People’s Campaign. Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew Hart, has received great reviews by Publisher’s Weekly and Englewood Review of Books. Endorsing this resource, Shane Claiborne said, “This book is a gift from the heart of one of the sharpest young theologians in the United States. Hold it carefully, and allow it to transform you--and our blood-stained streets.” As a text, Trouble I’ve Seen utilizes personal and everyday stories, Jesus-shaped theological ethics, and anti-racism frameworks to transform the church’s understanding and social witness. Trouble I’ve Seen focuses on white supremacy as an overarching framework for understanding racism, with careful attention to its systemic and socializing dimensions. However, unlike sociology textbooks on the subject Dr. Hart also considers the subversive vocation of Jesus and the nonviolent yet revolutionary implications his life ought to have for his followers today. His newest book project is entitled Who Will Be a Witness?: Igniting Activism for God’s Justice, Love, and Deliverance and will be published September 1, 2020. Who Will Be A Witness? invites the church to liberate its centuries long captivity to supremacist practices, and to expand its restricted political imagination in view of Jesus’ messianic reign. The book guides disciples of Jesus into joining God’s delivering presence through scriptural reasoning, historical reflection, practical theology for congregational life, social change theory, and the Christian call to love our neighbor. It is written for congregations, leaders, and students that understand that pursuing God’s justice goes way beyond waiting around for electoral seasons to come around. It is about the ongoing vocation of the Church right now, at the grassroots level, seeking after the wellbeing of their neighbors through faithful, strategic, and concrete action. Drew recently joined the Inverse Podcast team serving as a cohost along with Australian peace activist Jarrod Mckenna. Together they interview interesting people and explore how scripture can turn our ethical imagination and the violent and unjust systems of our world upside-down, which contrasts with interpreting the Bible as a tool for the status quo. Dr. Drew Hart was the recipient of bcmPEACE’s 2017 Peacemaker Award, a 2019 W.E.B. Dubois Award from a Disciples of Christ congregation, and in October 2019, Dr. Hart was chosen as Elizabethtown College’s 2019 Peace Fellow. Each award recognized him for his local and national justice work and public theology. You can find Drew Hart on Twitter and Facebook, or you can catch him as he travels and speaks regularly across the country to colleges, conferences, and churches. Drew and Renee, and their three boys (Micah, Dietrich, and Vincent) live in Harrisburg, PA and attend Harrisburg First Church of the Brethren. View more posts
Drew G. I. Hart 
I am well aware that another Black man is dead, that is why I keep trying to get folks to stop making decisions that will place them in situtations to wind up dead. Over and over again we keep focusing on the wrong end. It’s TOO LATE to focus on the brother after he is dead. Why don’t we put the energy into keeping him alive. Responsibility and Accountability goes a long way in keeping folks from being in the circumstance of being shot unarmed or armed. No one is saying the officer was right, but what I am saying is the young man would not have been in the situation to be shot to begin with had he made better decisions. Why is that connection never made. We will keep having dead brothers if they keep making bad decisions. Until we are willing to deal with that, we will keep on hollering about justice. There was a time when a neighbor, or teacher, or minister or whoever could let a child know when they were doing wrong. In fact the parents encouraged folks to let them know when their children were doing wrong and they could not see them. Now many parents will curse you out when you tell them about something that their children did wrong. There was a time when the village really did raise the child. Now the village is scared to say anything because of the reaction of the child and their parents. Then when one of them gets killed, everyone wants to village to defend the bad choices. No sir, not me. The families have my sympathies in the loss of a loved one, but the support of the wrong decisions. No. That must stop if we are to be taken seriously. Otherwise, prepare yourself to keep having these same situations.
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God Bless
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