When members of the congregation of the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. forgave Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white supremacist who indiscriminately murdered nine people while they were praying on bended knee in June of 2015, I thought them fools — or worse. Roof had not even asked the congregation — or anyone else for that matter — for forgiveness and remains unrepentant to this very day.
In spite of the fact I am not a Christian, I do believe those church members (who couldn’t seem to wait to turn the other cheek to this mass murderer) took Jesus’ commandment to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” a bit too literally. Their forgiving attitude could cause another demented white supremacist to seek out another black house of worship and use its congregants for easy target practice. I believe in forgiving but in a highly selective form of the practice.
But then there is St. Lucia native Brandt Jean, the 18-year-old brother of 26-year-old Botham Jean, whose life was cut short by a trigger-happy former Dallas cop, Amber Guyger. Brandt did a remarkable thing in open court after Guyger was sentenced to 10 years for her reckless action. As part of the victim impact statement, he said from the witness stand in open court that he had forgiven the cop who gunned down his brother. And then he asked the judge, actually begged her, to allow him to give Guyger a hug. When the judge acquiesced, the killer and the brother rushed into each other’s arms in front of the bench and embraced in what has to be one of the most remarkable moments in live TV history.
However, not every member of the Jean clan (the father, Bertrum, is an ordained minister in their native island country) was in agreement with what the 18-year-old did. Some wanted a longer sentence while others simply were not ready to forgive. Brandt Jean knew that when he made the very public act of human kindness and made it clear that he was speaking only for himself. “This is what you have to do to set yourself free,” he said in an exclusive interview Friday on Good Morning America. “I didn’t really plan on living the rest of my life hating this woman. I know that there’s something called peace of mind and that’s the type of stuff you need to do to have peace of mind; that’s why I wake up happy in the morning. That’s why I want to live happy later on in my life,” said the very wise young man.
I’m doubtful I could have made such a brave demonstration of my faith as this young man did, most likely because my faith is nowhere near as strong and deep as his. But on the other hand, I would like to believe I would have forgiven the woman who killed my brother in the intervening year since the incident, but there’s really no way I’ll ever know for sure. And perhaps his family members will find it in their hearts to forgive her also, but in their own time, at their own pace. Maybe Brandt’s youthfulness plays into this somehow since young people are often more malleable and less entrenched in their world views as their elders.
Nonetheless, I do know the truth of what the young man said: That carrying ill feelings towards another around inside is not healthy, so while I might have forgiven Amber Guyger, no one would have known. I would have kept my forgiving to myself, which makes 18-year-old Brandt Jean a better and bigger person than I — and probably you.
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: A Better Young Man in Dallas?”
mee d
Forgiveness is a deep gift you give yourself. It is taking away from the transgressor the power to continue doing harm.