hooded reflections...

death is awful.  i'm not a fan of it.  not sure who is really.  i've come closer to death in the last few years than i thought i ever would.  its no secret i'm not a fan of 17 year old young men getting shot and killed.  breaks my heart, everytime.  no matter their story, no matter their past, no matter the situation and context. how i wish we valued life the way our Creator does.

i've not said anything about Trayvon Martin to this point, because, well...I live in Portland, this happened in Florida.  The only 'information' i get is through the news and i can't trust it all...none of us can really, whether its FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC...there are angles.  Speaking of FoxNews, check out this post from a friend of mine over at Roused to Mediocrity, made me laugh.  thanks scott.  but being someone who spends time with some great young black men who are also at risk of being shot at, or honestly, pulling the trigger, i thought i'd go ahead and share the things i'm thinking about.

first...the fact that he is dead is tragedy enough...whether you believe the shooter was defending himself or that the shooter was overzealous and profiled Trayvon as a young black man in a hoodie; the death of a 17 year old who was carrying only skittles and an Arizona tea should be enough to bring a tear to your eye and recognize that there will be no justice, no matter what the outcome.  whether the shooter is charged, imprisoned, or left free...nothing will change this tragedy, there can be no justice.

second...these tweets hit home for me.
First, from Efrem Smith, @efremsmith:
Many young black men have been murdered by other young black men, but there was no rally for them.

Next from Sho Baraka, @amishobaraka:
Troy Davis', Trayvon Martin's, sex trafficking and Kony Movements. What are you doing off twitter to fight it "Before and after the fact?"

And from Propaganda, @prophiphop:
Lets Pray that God brings Justice and Racial reconciliation from this


i'm all for outrage, i'm all for a prophetic voice...we need those.  but may we not just be a voice, may we not wait for a tragedy to give cause for speaking, and may we live day in and day out in such a way that when these injustices come we may know we have already been about our Father's business of declaring the good news, of being the light in the darkness, of declaring that His Kingdom has come and is coming.

Hoodie been up, still up.  Now, lets make sure all our knees and hands are dirty.

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check out Efrem Smith's blog reflections...he says things a bit better than i...