“My client did not wait to become that victim,” he said. “My client did not wait to either get assaulted by a weapon or have someone potentially pull a trigger,” he said.
“Now, does it sound irrational? Of course it sounds irrational. But have you ever been in that situation?” Strolla asked.
— Quoted from “Michael Dunn convicted of attempted murder; jury can’t decide on murder” by Tom Watkins and Greg Botelho, CNN Justice
So let me get this straight: Michael Dunn was not a victim of assault. He was not a victim of a shooting. He acted irrationally — aka insanely, stupidly and crazily — by shooting into a vehicle filled with Black teenagers and killing Jordan Davis, all because he didn’t like the volume of the music in their car. And yet, somehow, his lawyer manages to construe this incident as one in which Dunn was so afraid that he had no other option but to defend himself with deadly force? Really?
The offensive and oppressive nature of this case is evident to anyone willing to see it. But it doesn’t stop with the act of senseless brutality Dunn committed against a car full of Black youth. Nor does it stop with this lawyer’s assumption that “everybody” — read: every white body — would have been justified in acting the same way when presented with Black presence. It doesn’t even stop with the social narrative lying at the root of the altercation: that young Black men and Black people in general are inherent and irrevocable menaces that must be controlled by any means necessary.
No. The offense and oppression is multiplied even further by the ways mass media chooses to talk about the case.
Instead of calling this trial what it really is about — racism, classism and white supremacy culture intersecting with a culture of violence and white-male vigilanteism — the “news” outlets continue to call this the “loud music” case. So intense is the desire not to acknowledge the devastating impact of racism in our society that popular discourse about a case that is obviously laden with racist assumptions and presumed privilege will avoid naming the issue at every turn. Even when these are Dunn’s own words on the matter. Even when sanctioned avoidance trivializes the injustice.
I don’t know what it is going to take to dial-down the rationalization and legalization of white fear that is rearing its ugly head in the United States right now, but it needs to happen — and fast. The lynch mob mentality is riding high and the consequences are too steep for those of us who share the “wrong” shade in the racial hierarchy.
Author Bio:
Nekeisha Alexis-Baker is an occasional writer and speaker with interests innonhuman animal ethics and Christian theology; vegan practice as nonviolent Christian witness; undoing racism and resisting oppression; and intersections between radical Christian faith and anarchist politics. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University with a concentration in Africana Studies and Masters of Arts: Theological Studies degree from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, specializing in theology and ethics. She currently serves as chair of the Intercultural Competence and Undoing Racism team at AMBS. Nekeisha is also affiliated with the Jesus Radicals network and with the Roots of Justice anti-oppresson training collective. A native Trinidadian and former New Yorker, she now resides in Elkhart, Ind. where she stays positive by growing spiritually in her local AME fellowship, building community in the city, and singing karaoke with boisterous friends. She blogs at criticalanimal.tumblr.com and everydayoppression.tumblr.com
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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.
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Drew G. I. Hart 
Yes. I’m indicted by your words and they resonate as profoundly true. If the recent verdicts are to believe, being black is enough justification for murder. Thanks for continuing to keep this in front of us and naming the urgency and the lives that are at stake.