Denver Seminary

IT WAS LATE FEBRUARY 2012, AND MY WIFE AND I HAD JUST RETURNED TO THE UNITED STATES AFTER SPENDING TWO WEEKS ON THE BEAUTIFUL ISLAND OF ST. LUCIA. AFTER CLEARING CUSTOMS IN MIAMI, WE HEADED TO THE TERMINAL TO AWAIT OUR CONNECTING FLIGHT TO DENVER. WE NOTICED LARGE CROWDS GATHERING AROUND THE TELEVISION MONITORS. I said to my wife, "It seems we missed something important. Let's find out what happened." We joined the crowds, listening intently to the television reporter. "Trayvon Martin, a 17-year- old African American male, was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida." I will never forget the range of emotions I experienced at that moment. I stood there in shock as my wife walked away in tears. I felt terrible pain for what Trayvon's mother must have been experiencing. Anger swelled in my chest as I processed the reality of another black man's unnecessary death as a result of racial profiling. WHEN RACIAL TENSIONS HIT HOME The event forced me to reflect on my own experiences with racial profiling. I relocated to Denver in 1993 as an IBM employee. Whenever I drove through certain parts of town, I was regularly stopped by white police officers because of the car I drove and the business attire I wore. I did not fit the expected racial demographic of the community, so I was taken out of the car, questioned, and searched for drugs. In 2006 my wife and I purchased a home in Elbert County. Shortly after the closing documents were signed, an older African American gentleman and I started moving furniture into my new home. As we drove the truck into the backyard and began unloading furniture into the basement, I noticed a patrol car stopped at the top of my driveway. Anger swelled in my chest as I processed the reality of another black man's unnecessary death as a result of racial profiling. The police officer drove into the yard and asked us why we were there, what we were doing, and to show him our IDs. I informed the police officer that I was moving into my home, but he demanded proof that the home was actually mine. In the meantime, he reported the alleged crime, calling for backup. Before long Parker police had surrounded my home with the perception that my friend and I were robbing a house I actually owned. These incidents and others like them could scar a person for life, causing them to distrust and hate people of the other race. How can we begin the process of bridging the gap between the races? Should evangelical Christianity have a voice in the solution? Given the centuries of racial disparity in America, one can easily imagine how deep the scar is for some. Yet racial inequality remains a problem in the United States. People of color experience disproportionately high rates of police profiling and incarceration. The election of a black president has not resolved the problems surrounding race relations in America. Racial tensions have only increased in the aftermath of the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; the arrest and death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland; and the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. These events are symptomatic of deeper issues surrounding race relations that remain unresolved in the United States. How can we begin the process of bridging the gap between the races? Should evangelical Christianity have a voice in the solution? 8 FALL 2015 MAKES YOU THINK TimHesterPhotography/iStock

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