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7/31/2020

Policing in the community

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The M68 Project believes that law enforcement is a critical component of a productive society and is a part of the Government in which God instituted. To this end, for law enforcement to function in a way pleasing to God, it must do so without pride or prejudice. Because Government and its agencies adopt the sin of its ‘owners’, we believe that the system of Policing is afflicted with pride and prejudice. To restore the function of law enforcement, the Church must engage in a way that pursues equitable treatment for the accused and peaceful relationships between Police and the communities. The M68 Project supports the reallocation of Police funds towards initiatives that demilitarize Police, promote greater community welfare, and promote more extensive evaluation and training for officers.

WHAT IS IT?

Police Officers are ‘agents’ of the government and their primary responsibility (if not the only responsibility) is to enforce the laws of the government without pride or prejudice.
The institution of Law Enforcement is not an ‘American’ institution. Police (enforcement agents of the government) have been in existence since the beginning of society.
The issue of discrimination with how police enforce the law is not a new topic within our community or country.

HOW HAS MAN (SIN) DISTORTED IT?

As greed, power, and pride (sin) distort government, so does sin distort the agencies of government. Just like no part of the body is exempt from a cancer diagnosis, no agency of the government is exempt from the specific sins of that government. If the government is prejudice, then the government agencies are prejudice.
We all carry with us bias and ‘self-preservation’ tactics that influence how we interact with each other. Police officers are no different. Generally, Police interact with a small portion of a community’s population (criminals). With time, Police bias and self-preservation tactics begin to frame the larger portion of the population with the same lens as the small, criminal portion they interact with. If your only experience with a dog is when it bit you, it is easy to believe that all dogs bite.
Many of our Police are veterans. In a ‘post’ war culture, the transition from a war mindset to city streets can be overwhelming. These PTSD triggers from war can negatively influence behavior within Police.
Culture has created a framework where you are either pro police or pro people of color. This is a false dichotomy and completely removes the ability to promote biblical unity.
Post 9/11 policing has become over-militaristic. Fear of Jihad allowed our Police to arm for war. Often, our Police look more like military officers than peace officers.
Police are now responsible for reducing crime. Reducing crime is not the responsibility of police.

BIBLICAL TRUTHS?

God created the institution of the Government to legislate laws for the purpose of protecting its people. Man’s responsibility is to respect and follow the laws of the Government. Only when laws prohibit obedience to God’s commands are we free to disregard the law.
Biblical justice requires absolute equal punitive treatment for wrongdoers and relationships between people that reflect a love that conquers prejudice. The Government and its agents are not exempt from this standard and hold a higher degree of accountability because of their authority.

HOW SHOULD WE ENGAGE?

We should engage in a way that promotes equal treatment for wrongdoing and builds relationships that see through bias.
We do not support the defunding or abolishment of Police.
We do support the reallocation of funding within the Police agencies that put more emphasis on restoring communities. This reallocation may include reducing police budgets based on policy reform.
- We do not believe Police should be armed like the military and do not support the purchase of military style weapons, body gear, and vehicles. We believe Police should have a more robust selection process that includes deep psychiatric evaluation, longer on boarding cycles, and ongoing/continuing education or licensing.
- We believe community facing Police should be Peace Officers with the intent of building community relationships, restoring communities to each other, caring for physical safety needs of communities, and interacting directly with the ‘law enforcement’ side of Police.
When we see injustice, we should speak up and stand up to community leaders. We must respond as if we were the people who experienced the injustice.

7/15/2020

Tenets of justice

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The M68 Project has created 5 tenets to justice. We use these tenets as a framework to rooting out racial prejudice and the injustices it creates. Anything other would be a miscarriage of our calling. This is how we will DO JUSTICE.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This is the foundation for justice and is the hardest to perform. The basis is this, you cannot pursue justice without the acknowledgement of an injustice (sin). We see the difficulty of acknowledging injustice even in the first sin. When God confronted Adam in the Garden of Eden about eating the forbidden fruit, his immediate reaction was denial, ‘it was not me, it was her…’. Adam refuses to acknowledge his injustice towards God.

Throughout the bible, we are shown man’s guilt for showing partiality (prejudice). We are also shown how prejudice has a generational impact, and God’s rebuke for those who show partiality. Because we believe in the supremacy and objectivity (what was true then is true now) of scripture, we must acknowledge that we are no less guilty of showing partiality, that generations of showing partiality has a significant impact on those who are being treated differently, and God is not pleased.

EQUITY
This is different than equality. Equity is a more individualized treatment. We think of it like this, equality is making sure every kid has shoes, and equity is making sure every kid has shoes that fit. Our pursuit for racial justice must not stop at equality, but it must chase after an equitable treatment for people of color. We see the theme of equitable treatment throughout scripture. Whether the way Jesus confronts the marginalized people of His time, or the way God distributes spiritual gifts to His people, the emphasis is not on ensuring people have the same thing, but on ensuring people have exactly what they need.

ADVOCACY
We must stand up and defend those who are oppressed. Proverbs 31:8-9 says, “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Advocacy should be simple. We all know the desire to defend ourselves, parents know how to defend their children, and Christians know how to defend their faith. Biblical justice through advocacy should follow these same patterns. The only difference, we are not the beneficiaries.

GENEROSITY
So much of what we have is born out of the circumstances we inherit. Just being born in America creates opportunities that being born in any other country does not create. And whether we believe that we created what we have, or we inherited what we have, God says that all we have is His. The question is, what do we do what all that we have?

The bible is clear about our responsibility to share in generosity with those who are in need. Not just to share, but to share generously. Most unique to biblical justice through generosity is our calling to give generously to our enemy. Jesus says things like, “bless your enemies”, “give to everyone who begs”, “and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” Doing justice through sharing generously should not be bound to those who we think deserve it. It should be reserved for those who we think do not.

LIBERTY
To start his ministry, Jesus read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The justice of the bible is more than giving generously, it is more than speaking up, it is more than equitable treatment or acknowledging injustices. Biblical justice is about liberating captives! We must set the oppressed free. Jeremiah 22:3 says, “Thus says the Lord: do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed.”

Biblical justice through liberation comes in 2 forms: on earth and in heaven. Christians are familiar with the concept of a heavenly liberation. This is the Gospel where we are liberated from our sin, through the blood of Jesus, so that we can spend eternity with God in Heaven. However, in our humble view, Christians are more likely to sidestep God’s purpose for a liberated justice on this earth. Jesus says that he has come to “set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The “year of the Lord’s favor” is a reference to The Year of Jubilee, where land is restored to its rightful owner, business transactions are fair, and neighbors support neighbors in their time of need. Jesus came not only to liberate people from the oppression of their sin, but he came to liberate people from the oppression of their societal bondage. ALL chains must be broken.

Policing in the community

Tenets of justice

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