December 16, 2015
Page 7
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O PINION
How the Teachings of Jesus Apply Today
J ames a. h aught
Jesus sided with un-
derdogs. He championed
little people, not the
privileged and powerful.
“Blessed are the poor”
was one of his maxims.
He told a noble: “Sell all
that thou hast, and dis-
tribute unto the poor.”
Christ’s teachings were virtu-
ally a prescription for the com-
passionate “safety net” upholding
people and families in modern de-
mocracies.
“For I was hungered, and ye
gave me meat. I was thirsty, and
ye gave me drink. I was a strang-
er, and ye took me in. Naked and
ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye
visited me. I was in prison, and
ye came unto me…. Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me.”
He also said: “When thou
makest a feast, call the poor, the
maimed, the lame, the blind: and
thou shalt be blessed, for they can-
by
not recompense thee.”
His parable of the
Good Samaritan spot-
lighted the nobility of
caring for those who suf-
fer misfortune.
Jesus didn’t support
harsh
punishments.
When the law demand-
ed stoning of an adul-
tress, he famously said: “He that
is without sin among you, let him
first cast a stone at her.”
Jesus advocated separation of
church and state. “Render there-
fore unto Caesar the things which
be Caesar’s, and unto God the
things which be God’s.”
Jesus wasn’t a militarist.
“Blessed are the peacemakers”
was another of his maxims.
Clearly, Jesus espoused values
generally aligned with the modern
political left and peace movement.
Sometimes, this facet of religion
is called the “social gospel.”
So it’s strange that America’s
white evangelicals and fundamen-
talists are the bedrock of the Re-
publican Party -- a party that fa-
vors the rich, undercuts the safety
net, backs militarism and demands
harsher justice and the death pen-
alty. Oddly, these conservative
believers contradict the values of
Jesus.
When George W. Bush was
governor of Texas, he signed exe-
cution warrants for a record-break-
ing 135 inmates, including 11 who
were juveniles at the time of the
crimes. Many cases involved
questionable evidence. Bush was
renowned as a born-again believer
and declared on national televi-
sion that his favorite philosopher
was Jesus. The contrast between
the two sets off clanging bells of
cognitive dissonance.
Meanwhile, secular Americans
who don’t attend church have be-
come the largest group in the base
of the Democratic Party, which
supports the safety net for average
folks.
How odd that often churchless
people are closer to the social
principles of Jesus than many
churchgoers are.
New Pope Francis has gained
immense worldwide popularity
because he pushes the humane lib-
eral ideas of Jesus, not the sexual
taboos and hidebound Puritanism
that dominated his church in the
past.
“Inequality is the root of social
evil,” Francis declares. All poor
families deserve “land, lodging,
labor,” he preaches. He says capi-
talism rests on “unfettered pursuit
of money” and discards “unpro-
ductive people” like the poor, el-
derly and less-educated.
The prelate rattles conserva-
tives. Republican figure Pat Bu-
chanan accused him of preaching
“socialist sermons.”
But the pope is merely voicing
the values of Jesus. He is under-
scoring what should be obvious to
every thinking person: that Jesus
was a liberal.
James A. Haught, syndicated
by PeaceVoice, is editor emeritus
of West Virginia’s largest newspa-
per, The Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Suspicion and Anger Derails Police Partnership
m arC h. m orial
A day after the city
of Chicago released the
dash-cam video showing
the cold-blooded murder
of 17-year-old Laquan
McDonald at the hands of
a Chicago Police Depart-
ment officer, the Chicago
Urban League, supported
by the National Urban League,
formally requested that the De-
partment of Justice initiate a “pat-
tern and practice” investigation
into the police department.
Based upon the disturbingly
stark difference between official
police accounts of the October
2014 shooting of the black teen
and what is seen on the video,
our nation’s second largest po-
lice department is now under a
wide-ranging federal investiga-
tion that will examine whether the
department engages in a pattern or
practice of violations of the Con-
stitution or federal law while po-
licing.
Police claimed McDonald
moved toward the officers just be-
fore the shooting. The video shows
McDonald jogging away from the
police. Police claimed McDonald
continued moving toward the of-
ficers even after he fell. The video
shows Van Dyke firing shots into
McDonald’s motionless body.
Police claimed the knife Mc-
Donald held was in the open posi-
tion. State’s Attorney Anita Alva-
by
rez said the blade was closed.
In other words, the po-
lice lied.
This long sought-af-
ter probe will investigate
the Chicago Police De-
partment’s use of force
(including deadly force),
racial and other dispari-
ties in its use of force, and
scrutinize the department’s ability
to handle allegations of miscon-
duct and effectively discipline
rogue officers.
many of them while he was al-
ready lying on the ground—had
18 citizen complaints filed against
him, but he had never been disci-
plined. According to the New York
Times, from 2011 to 2015, in 97
percent of citizen complaints filed,
not one officer was punished.
Laquan’s unnecessary and trag-
ic death has pushed aside the dark
veil of police department unac-
countability.
The investigation must usher in
an era where the beams of trans-
The Chicago Urban League
was, and remains, at the forefront
of those demanding broad and
bold reform within the Chicago
Police Department.
I applaud both the swift work
of the Chicago Urban League on
this pressing issue and the Justice
Department’s decision to open
the investigation.
We need to not only understand
how the police handled this specif-
ic case of a 17-year-old boy shot
dead by a police officer, but we
Enough is enough. Lies and coverups
can neither appear to be nor be the
norm in any of our nation’s police
departments.
The video of Laquan being shot
repeatedly as he walked away
from the police officer, and the
conspiracy to conceal the truth of
what happened that night with a
concocted account that painted the
teenage victim as an aggressor,
speaks to a long-standing griev-
ance, particularly among the city’s
African-American communities,
that too many police officers be-
lieve they are above the commu-
nities and laws they are sworn to
protect and serve.
Officer Jason Van Dyke, who
shot 16 bullets into Laquan—
parency brings sweeping changes
and reforms to the Chicago Police
Department.
Enough is enough. Lies and
coverups can neither appear to
be nor be the norm in any of our
nation’s police departments. No
one is served when the police and
citizens look at each other with
distrust, fear and hostility. To ef-
fectively fight crime, citizens and
police officers must be partners in
that effort, and that can’t happen
if suspicion and anger stand in be-
tween that vital, life-saving part-
nership.
also need to know if this points
to a pattern of systemic abuse and
lies.
As long as organizations, com-
munity groups and the citizens of
Chicago (and beyond) continue to
demand that police departments
respect and protect the civil rights
of everyone it protects and serves,
the days of unchallenged lies and
shameful coverups in the Chica-
go Police Department—or other-
wise—are numbered.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.
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