by the Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley, Transitional Priest-In-Charge
(Photo of a photo of me taken on Canfield Drive in September 2014 with Frankie on my shoulders.)
So much has happened in the past twelve years – in Ferguson, in Missouri, in the United States and in the world. And while it is true that the killing of a Black teenager by a white police officer could have happened anywhere – and indeed does tragically happen in many places – it did happen in Ferguson. It happened here on August 9, 2014 at 11:55 am and there is no getting around that.
My own experiences in the months after August 9, 2014 have forever changed who I am as a white woman born and raised in North County, how I raise my own children and how I serve as a priest. Like most people who lived in Ferguson or St. Louis, I carry visceral memories from that time – smells and sounds that stay with me.
Between the Ferguson Uprising and the intensity of the COVID pandemic, most people in our area are carrying trauma of some kind in their bodies, minds, and souls. I try to bear this in mind whenever I encounter someone with whom I strongly disagree – especially online. Do not react. Take a breath. You do not know what someone else has gone through.
We are all wounded and we all yearn to be made whole. As Christians, we believe that wholeness comes when we strive to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, when we strive for justice and peace, and respect the dignity of every human being.
Wounds do not heal if you ignore them. They must be tended to in order to be healed. Yes, unfortunately, violence happens everywhere. And, yes, we are called to heal the wounds in our community that were exposed and created specifically by the killing of Mike Brown: racial prejudice, resentments and assumptions made by so many people about other people’s motivations – then and now.
Mike Brown’s parents, Michael, Sr. and Cal have channeled their own grief from the loss of their child into supporting other grieving families through the Chosen for Change Foundation. Last week, representatives from the Chosen for Change Foundation and other Ferguson-based organizations and individuals gathered for the first of a Community Conversation Series entitled “Building Ferguson Together.”
I encourage you to attend the next Building Ferguson Together Conversation with me on Sunday, September 13, from 3:00 – 5:00 pm at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, 1425 Stein Road, Ferguson. The focus of the second Community Conversation will be “Our Children, Our Future.” Focusing on “Our Children, Our Future” is a topic that can hopefully bring people together – across race, class, church membership or political affiliation. In the words of the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, may God “grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.”