By Bob Allen
National and regional leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA called for an examination of the U.S. criminal justice system, while interfaith leaders in New York City said a special prosecutor should investigate police misconduct in light of a grand jury decision not to indict the white police officer responsible for the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who went into cardiac arrest while being arrested for selling cigarettes.
Accompanied by cell-phone video of a police officer holding Garner in an apparent chokehold as he gasped “I can’t breathe,” the grand jury decision announced Dec. 3 prompted “die-in” protests in New York City, Washington and Oakland, Calif. NBA players including LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bull guard Derrick Rose donned “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts in pregame warmups in solidarity with the protests.
Thirty-four American Baptist leaders issued a statement Dec. 8 decrying the current legal system as “obviously infected by virulent racism” across the country and calling for change.
“As leaders of American Baptist Churches USA, we stand in solidarity with those bearing witness through prayer, protest and vigil. We call for a national examination of our judicial system and other institutions spiritually perverted by racism,” said signers including ABC/USA President Donald Ng, General Secretary Roy Medley and the heads of the denomination’s domestic and international mission agencies.
Meanwhile Baptist ministers in New York City joined clergy from Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions in a pastoral letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and members of the New York City Council voicing shock but not surprise at the grand jury’s refusal to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo.
“Since Sept. 11, 2001, we have witnessed a pattern in the consolidation of power within the New York Police Department with officers using excessive force,” New York faith leaders said.
Signers included Amy Butler, pastor of Riverside Church, and Susan Sparks, senior pastor of Madison Avenue Baptist Church. Butler’s predecessor at Riverside, Brad Braxton, now pastor of The Open Church in Baltimore, also signed the letter.
The letter asked New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute excessive force and wrongful death cases by police officers in general, and in particular to immediately appoint a special prosecutor “in the wrongful death of Eric Garner.”
The clergy also asked the New York City Council “to expedite a draft legislation making the chokehold illegal, with significant penalties for any officer who uses it.”
A USA Today/Pew Research Center poll found the Garner case has galvanized public opinion about racial profiling by police. Those surveyed said by a 57 percent-to-22 percent majority that the Staten Island grand jury made the wrong decision in acquitting Pantaleo. In contrast, half (50 percent) said a grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., made the right decision not to charge police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, compared to 37 percent who said the grand jury got it wrong.
In both cases African-Americans overwhelmingly said both grand juries erred in not bringing charges, while two-thirds of whites said the Missouri grand jury made the right decision and 47 percent said the New York grand jury was wrong.