Over the last five years, there has been a trend among liberal Adventism. Namely, whenever an event happens in national news, they rush to issue a ‘statement’ on it. Here’s the latest, an email that was sent out to Andrews students and alumni today:
The Andrews University Office of Diversity & Inclusion joins in a chorus of voices across our nation and world that mourn the recent shooting death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by Kim Porter, a Brooklyn Center police officer, this past Sunday, during a routine traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The location was just ten miles away from the current trial of Officer Derek Chauvin, who faces three murder/manslaughter charges in connection with the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly a year ago in May 2020.
We are once again left heartbroken, frustrated and dumbfounded that another “routine traffic stop” has led to the death of an unarmed Black person.
As I thought about the impact of this news, and as I reflected on last summer’s painful reckoning with George Floyd’s death, and the continuing pandemic of systemic racism that the Black community has been dealing with for centuries, I was reminded that on our own campus, those summer discussions led to the creation of a George Floyd Scholar program.
I reached out to Jennifer Jean, a freshman biology major and the inaugural recipient of the scholarship from the George Floyd Scholar program. Here are her own reactions to the shooting death of Daunte Wright:
“This week we were hit with yet another tragedy—the shooting death of Daunte Wright. As I read the news, I am filled with disgust and anger for the corrupt nature of the justice system. As a country, we have begun to be desensitized due to the fact that these shootings and deaths have become such a common occurrence. Something that is particularly heartbreaking this week and with this story is that the shooting and death of Daunte Wright occurred during the George Floyd trial in the same area. The irony of this is while we are fighting for the justice of one Black man, another one has been shot and killed and once again failed by the justice system. SAY HIS NAME DAUNTE WRIGHT.”
As we respond to the anger and heartbreak that come with this most recent shooting death, our Black Student Christian Forum, in collaboration with the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, the Andrews University Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Center and the Center for Faith Engagement, is planning to host a virtual forum conversation titled “Here Again: Processing the Shooting Death of Daunte Wright” to help our campus discuss and process these recent events. The program will take place next Tuesday, April 20, at 11:30 a.m. via Zoom here. Co-curricular credit will be provided.
On a personal level, you may also want to talk with someone to help you understand and process your grief and even anger. If so, I invite you to connect directly with our chaplains at the Center for Faith Engagement or with our counselors in the Counseling & Testing Center to find a way to pursue some of those essential conversations for your own heart and life.
As I share these thoughts today, I also find the words of the prophet Habakkuk especially powerful and relevant right now, especially in the beginning verses of Habakkuk, which includes these words:
“How long, O Lord, must I call for help? … wherever I look, I see destruction and violence … The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts.”
With those words (read Habakkuk 1:2–4 at the link above), I believe we can take comfort in knowing that God will have the final say in this moment, even amidst all the tragedy and heartache of our world that desperately needs the answers and peace of His kingdom.
Michael Nixon
Observations
There is a trend among liberal Adventism. Whenever an (unfortunate) event happens in national news, they rush to issue a ‘statement’ on it, and the statement always bolsters social justice.
This shooting is an incompetent mess. The female ‘policeman’ grabbed what she thought was her tazer while Mr. Wright was resisting arrest and instead grabbed her firearm and killed the man. It may be somewhat explainable that she might grab the wrong item, especially if they are next to each other on the belt, but there isn’t any excuse for it. None. She will have to face manslaughter charges (and should).
Don’t resist arrest, especially if you are wanted on a warrant. I don’t care what ethnicity you are. Just don’t.
This issue raises an extraneous question, should women be policemen? I think not. Should men be in women’s roles? I think not. There are unique gifts that God has given women and these gifts equip them for various scriptural roles (Titus 2:5; 1 Timothy 2:9-15; 1 Timothy 2:12; Genesis 3:16; 1 Cor. 11:13; Luke 8:1-3; Ephesians 5:22-33). Policemen and soldiers and firemen are not among those roles.
Notice how Nixon immediately turns this sad situation into a racial thing. That is called agitation, and agitation is the opposite of the ministry of reconciliation spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:18. But Mrs. Potter is white, and that’s all an agitator needs to condemn her as a racist. You say “How could he know what she was thinking?” He doesn’t. But Critical Race Theory and the organization it spawned (BLM) sees all white people as oppressors, and all minorities as the oppressed. No reconciliation is needed, ministry or otherwise.
Never mind that this woman is feeling horrible about her mistake, and a family is dealing with the tragic loss of a son and brother, the Andrews Diversity & Inclusion department is pouring fuel on the fire. Unfortunately, that’s what it was designed to do.
Biblical diversity means that we accept each other’s differences, recognizing that no ethnicity has all the strengths, or weaknesses. We need—and benefit from—each other. We are ultimately seeking a better country & city where every nation, tribe, language and people stand together under the blood red banner of redemption (Revelation 5:9; 14:6). Biblical diversity is united by the love of God. Social justice/CRT ‘diversity’ is animated by resentment, evil-for-evil, and temporal values.
Biblical inclusion looks for the best in others, values the salvation of others over itself and walks humbly with our God (Micah 6:8; Exodus 32:32; Romans 9:3). Social justice/CRT ‘inclusion’ excludes those whom it deems unfit and includes only its own tribe.
I pray for two families tonight, the Wright family, and the Potter family. Lord, please comfort them in this trial and somehow bring good out of it (Romans 8:28).
I pray for a third family—the family of God, who can endure many things, but cannot survive a Critical Race Theory-motivated diversity & inclusion department of our own colleges (Hebrews 12:15). I also pray for Michael Nixon tonight.
I thank God for thousands, nay millions, of fellow Adventists who grasp the implications of our Advent Message and march forward together to warn the world of divine judgment. I am grateful for countless black brothers and sisters who love the same Lord I do and shun the worldly distraction of CRT and it’s generational bitterness. I am humbled and honored to dwell in the Body of Christ with them.
****
“Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king“ (1 Peter 2:17).