Speaking Wednesday on Boston Public Radio, the Rev. Irene Monroe and the Rev. Emmett G Price III both expressed relief over Tuesday’s guilty verdict for former Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer Derek Chauvin.
But they disagreed on what impact the verdict will have on American policing.
Chauvin was found guilty on three counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Cellphone footage of the former officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he pleaded for his life triggered mass protests and calls for accountability in the U.S. and around the world.
Reflecting on the jury’s ruling, Price referenced the famous quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“This verdict bends towards justice,” Price said. “It does assure a new precedent in terms of accountability for these police officers that goes above and beyond morality.”
“But I'm not sure it’s justice yet,” he added, noting the killing Tuesday of 16 year-old Ma'Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, at the hands of police.
“Although it sets a precedent, I’m not sure that this nation is ready to fully move in this direction,” he said.
At that point, Monroe interjected, saying that she does believe Tuesday represented a “changing moment,” though she also acknowledged the likelihood of an imminent “whitelash.”
“Whenever there’s brown ascendency, you can count your last dollar bill there’ll be whitelash,” she said, referring to the reactionary, racist response that has historically followed steps toward racial equity in the United States. Still, she stood firm in her belief about white America’s waning tolerance for police violence against Black people.
“I don’t even think the nation — and I’m talking about white people in this moment — even have the stomach for such a moment as this again,” she said.
"Listen," she added, "the only place to go is up."
Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is a professor of worship, church and culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by GBH.
