Justice Before Mourning

On the tragedy & survival of Ralph Yarn, and fighting for people before they're hashtags.

Perhaps you’ve heard the story by now.

A young man was shot twice (once in the head, once in the arm) for the crime of ringing the wrong doorbell.

But he lived. Sure, his name was trending. But he didn’t end up a #hashtag in the same way that so many others before him have had their futures erased by the matured fears of a nation that has never loved them. At the time of this writing, Ralph Yarl is alive.

By the time you are reading this, the man who pulled the trigger will have already been apprehended, released, charged, and remanded back into police custody.

You may even see some people pointing towards these events as proof that the “system” has worked.

And they are right. The System™ that encourages a “shoot first, ask questions last” mentality worked almost exactly as intended. Again. If there was any flaw in the way The System™ played out this time, it is that the person that The System™ set its sights on lived to tell the story of their experience with The System™. This breaks the rhythm.

Typically, an event transpires, a life is cut short, some people demand justice, we speak names and deploy hashtags, an “investigation” is carried out, someone either does or does not stand before a jury, and we rest until the cycle repeats itself.

But what do we do when people survive to tell their side of the story?

This is the question that confronts us as a nation.

As the battle for which stories we embrace rages on in legislatures, churches, and school boards alike, the question at the center of it all is: what do we do with the testimony of survivors?

What do we do when the violated fail to die? Do we proceed as though their survival negates the violation? Does their continued existence discredit the injustice? Is the marginalization of a testimony a fit consequence for living?

Sometimes, I worry that we are only mobilized by mourning. That it is only the reality of death that shocks us into action.

I wonder… can we demand justice before the funerals are scheduled?

I am glad that Ralph Yarl is still with us.

I am saddened that a culture that weaponizes dark skin put his life in danger for pressing a button that is designed to announce your presence.

I am glad that his story has shaken a segment of our nation awake.

I am saddened that it took another bullet riddled Black body to do it.

I am glad that we are not mourning the death of Ralph Yarl.

I am hopeful that we can make a habit of pursuing justice before another Black life is cut short.

In my line of work, we speak on Resurrection quite a bit.

We speak of what it means to live in light of the defeat of death.

But how might we live if we got to witness death defeated in real time?

Can we walk in faith before we visit the garden tombs?

Will we accept the charge to be born again without watching someone die again?

I pray that we embrace the renewal of all things while those who would benefit from such a renewal are still here to see it.