You know, there’s an old adage that says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." And it’s something than came to mind when I recently heard about the church that Michael Brown’s family was known to attend, being torched by vandals. I thought of it as being an example of turnabout being fair play. And to be honest, upon hearing the news I felt very little sympathy. It’s just that I have a rather difficult time respecting the property of those who feel completely justified in calling for the destruction of property owned by others, for any reason. But when the destruction is perpetrated for the reason that it has been in Ferguson, for me such behavior is deserving of nothing more than the strongest form of condemnation.
As it turns out, the church attended by Michael Brown’s father and his family was one of a dozen or so buildings burned to the ground during Monday night’s protests in the wake of a grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson. While the majority of the buildings destroyed on Monday were in downtown Ferguson, the Flood Christian Church is located about three miles away from the protests in a remote section of Country Club Hills. Pastor Carlton Lee, who has been one of the more vocal advocates for the Browns since their son was shot in August, would rather believe that those responsible for the destruction were white supremacists rather than the black protesters who are the ones we’ve all seen burning down everything else.
The rather paranoid Rev. Lee told NBC News he believes that his church was targeted because he has repeatedly called for the arrest of Officer Wilson. Lee, who has participated in numerous rallies and press conferences with Michael Brown Sr. also claims to have received more than 70 death threats. He said, "I'm very vocal in regards to the Michael Brown case." This boob went on to say, "The police called me and told me the church was on fire." And he added, "I was in complete disbelief. I didn't think anyone would set a church on fire." I can’t help but wonder just how ignorant must this guy must be not to recognize the fact that there is nothing that those with whom he has chosen to associate with would NOT destroy out of vengeance.
He said, "I feel like one of my children has died. I put my blood, my sweat, my tears into this church, getting this church built from the ground up." And he went on to say, "To see that it was taken down in a few minutes is really heartbreaking." Rev. Lee said Michael Brown Sr. was 'just devastated again' about the extensive damage. But the good reverend seems not to be bothered in the least by the ‘devastation’ suffered by those who have been forced to watch as their businesses went up in flames even though they had absolutely nothing to do with the decision arrived at by the Ferguson grand jury. To the reverend such violence is seen as being perfectly acceptable and is to be expected due to the racial injustice that has been perpetrated here.
And when it comes to who it was, exactly, that might have committed this act, who is it that the good reverend suspects? Was it the gangs of marauding blacks who were determined to destroy everything in their path? Nope, instead he suspects that his church was targeted by white supremacists who wanted to punish him for his support of the Brown family. Really? Now has anyone seen or heard anything about gangs of white supremacists roaming the streets of Ferguson? And if there were don’t you think that CNN, or MSNBC or any of the major networks would have been shouting about them from the rooftops? So I’m thinking what we have here is less a man of God and more just another racist in a crowd of what seems to be very many!
Pastor Lee said that he had known the Brown family for several years after officiating at their wedding. He said he remembered Michael Jr. as a ‘big jokester.’ His recollection of the 300 pound, six foot four inch teen varies considerably from the thug that we’ve all seen on the convenience store video. You see in talking about Brown, the reverend recalls, ‘He was a fun loving guy to be around.’ And this supposed man of God is another of those who puts race above even such things as faith. He has demonstrated very little that would seem to indicate that he actually practices what he preaches. He’s able to somehow justify the property of others being destroyed but seems dumfounded that someone burned down his church.
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