Police Brutality, Family Values, and White Supremacist Christianity
In the wake of the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Brad argues that family values have been used for centuries as a vector for White supremacist Christianity. Not only are family values used today as a way to draw attention away from racial inequality and other systemic issues, but they have been used throughout American history to justify racism and white supremacy. There is a direct line connecting the concern for order, the vision of the family as the hierarchical structure wherein Godly character is formed, and the defense of slavery and contemporary forms of systemic racism.
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Axis Mundi You're listening to an irreverent podcast.
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Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
My name is Brad Onishi, faculty of religion, Skidmore College.
Our show is hosted in partnership with the Kapp Center at UCSB.
It is the day after the conclusion of the Derek Chauvin murder trial.
The jury deliberated for a short time, relatively speaking, and came back with a guilty verdict on all three charges.
For many of us around the country, this was welcome news.
I will not call it justice.
Justice would be if George Floyd were still alive, but it was a welcome sign of at least some accountability for Derek Chauvin's actions and for police brutality in general.
We learned, however, almost simultaneously that in Columbus, Ohio, police officers had killed a 15-year-old girl, Makia Bryant, who had called them because it seems that some girls were coming to her house to attack who had called them because it seems that some girls were coming to her house She was shot four times.
Now, there's so much to say, and honestly, it's hard to have words for that, but it's The exhale that some people, myself included, let out after the Chauvin trial news was announced was immediately led back to breathlessness in the wake of this news about let out after the Chauvin trial news was announced was immediately led
I do want to provide a lens though for understanding these events in terms of white Christian nationalism and just conservative media and conservative thought in this country in general.
I want to draw some lines that I think will maybe clarify why Fox News And anyone who is on your feed today...
Who identifies as a white conservative or a white Christian may having a certain take or a certain conclusion So here are a couple examples yesterday Tomi Lahren the sort of pundit slash provocateur Tweeted that now that you have your justice Your meaning not everyone's but your Will there be no rioting or looting in the streets tonight, right?
So it was a Instigating tweet that Specifically placed the justice on a certain population or a certain group not everyone and then immediately pivoted to this concern for Property and order right and I think the word for me that is important is order Tomy's concern was that order is kept not that justice is served.
Okay now Tucker Carlson had a A guest on last night, former law enforcement, who said that he thought the Chauvin use of force was unwarranted, and Tucker got very upset and stopped the interview very curtly, laughed in a way that was truly frightening, and then talked about how the whole country is boarded up, and that is his concern.
And again, he was concerned about order, right?
His overriding concern was That the unrest in the streets, the unrest in the country in reaction to the killing of George Floyd and many others has led to disorder.
There is marching, there are protests, there is shouting, there is disorder in the streets, okay?
Now many of you I've seen on my timeline and people sort of discussing how there has been in some instances with your white Christian friends or family or others, maybe your conservative colleagues, a sense of indifference that this George Floyd verdict really doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
That they weren't really paying attention or they're just glad that maybe You know, there's not going to be widespread riots, but they're sad because they feel as if law enforcement is under attack, right?
Thin Blue Line and Defend the Blue were trending on Twitter this morning.
And so you can see in some corners indifference and in other corners a sense of protecting or standing up for the police, even in the wake of watching Derek Chauvin murder a man on videotape, okay?
This is something that is truly astounding, right?
I mean, we watched Derek Chauvin murder a man over the course of a number of minutes.
And still there are people who are saying that, you know, his actions were justified and he and other policemen should be protected when it comes to these kinds of actions.
Now, I want to just dig into that.
What is this concern for order?
And what is this concern for defending those who enforce order at any cost?
Why is this such an overriding concern for conservatives and especially for white evangelicals and white conservative Christians in this country?
I want to take this back to something we've been talking about On the show for a couple of weeks now and that is the family.
Jim Daley from Focus on the Family was unhappy with me and had some comments about my approach to or my thoughts on violence and masculinity in the wake of the Atlanta massacre.
A couple years ago I wrote a piece for the New York Times and Ben Shapiro Didn't like it, and talked about how I was, you know, one of the liberals who was trying to destroy the family, okay?
The family we all know is sort of the center of evangelical thought in this country, and it also goes beyond the evangelical borders.
Many in the LDS community, and even the Catholic community, share a similar theological emphasis on the family.
A couple weeks ago I had Sophie Bjork-James on the program and she just wrote a great new book called The Divine Institution and I want to quote from that book right now because I think it provides a really clear statement of like how the family works in evangelical circles.
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