The Dehumanizing Nature of Excused Riots

 

Today I was reminded of Anne Sullivan, who is remembered as being the teacher and lifelong companion of Helen Keller. For those have seen an adaptation of The Miracle Worker, there is an incredible moment when Sullivan is first introduced to Helen around the family table. The teacher was appalled by the fact that the Keller family allowed Helen to carry on as she wished, with no regard for social custom or proper behavior. The family believed that this was too much to ask of Helen, and every attempt to teach Helen to behave otherwise was met with the young girl's fits of rage. In spite of many challenges, and a lot of resistance from the Keller family, Anne Sullivan pushed forward with Helen and was finally able to make a great breakthrough.

At the very core of Sullivan's conviction that Helen Keller ought to act properly, in spite of her great physical challenges, so that she might behave like a young woman. Sullivan believed that using Helen's condition as an excuse for her behavior was actually dehumanizing as it kept her behaving as an animal. The respect that was granted to Helen was in the standard that was presented to her, a measure of expectation to which she could rise, which would enable this remarkable young lady to achieve far more than anyone had ever thought possible.

Today I was reminded of Anne Sullivan as I watched, together with many in my country, another city being looted and set ablaze by rioting thugs who are acting out of hate and rage, leaving a grand sweep of injustice upon the landscape of this nation. And when I once again heard a slew of voices working to downplay the level of destruction and even excuse the behavior as an acceptable (or understandable) reaction to a perceived wrong, I couldn't help but think of what happens when humans are allowed to act inhumanely.

There is a leftist movement in this country that is anarchist at its core, cloaked in the unarguable phrase Black Lives Matter. Those who rush to defend the riots are quick to say that this is the inevitable result of a great and systemic racism that pervades every level of American society. There is no reasonable arguing with this claim, because it is not about data and facts but rather the creation and perpetuation of a narrative. The primary vehicle of this social destruction is the charge of racism, which is no longer a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race, but rather an unwillingness to accept the leftist worldview that is being pushed.

Thus, those who are rioting, looting, physically attacking innocent people, and destroying businesses and families are dismissed as simply carrying out the inevitable reaction to this great evil that overshadows this country. In other words, the anarchist destruction is justified and thus allowed, and society's laws no longer matter to those who are in socio-political support of this hatred. Should it be surprising to us, then, that a lawless society would produce people who act inhumanely to one another? We are watching the dehumanizing of our own neighbors out of an excuse to act badly because we are afraid of holding up a standard that would regard each other as having the imago Dei. 

Those who are pushing the Black Lives Matter mantlepiece on this are, essentially, claiming that the color of one's skin is determinative of one's inability to act as a human and to use reason and intellect and can only act as raging animals to enact the change they believe is necessary. Yet, this is not considered a racist position because it is part of the narrative, even though it looks upon a large group of women and men and judges them by the color of their skin and not by the content of their character.

Some in the church are complicit in allowing this dehumanizing to occur, afraid to be socially unacceptable in opposing the hateful Black Lives Matter narrative, or looking to gain some political points by joining some anti-Trumpism that ought to have nothing to do with the matter altogether. (Once again I say that until the church can understand that Trump is not the cause, but the inevitable effect of our deteriorating national political discourse, will it have a voice worth listening to on this matter. But I set this aside for the time being.)

Restoring humanity lies at the heart of the gospel message, and what is happening in the excusing of these riots for political gain will have far greater effect than any election. I lament that so many voices in the church are jabbering on about the spirituality of the President when a far greater issue is at hand — one that actually takes precedence for the mission of the church. Restoring the imago Dei of all men and women will accomplish much more than riots or legislation or elections ever could. For the power of love is greater than the love of power, if the people of God have the tenacity for truth that rises above the muck of such hateful and dishonest rhetoric.

Perhaps our country will find its Anne Sullivan before the destruction goes too far.