Action over Apathy

NCF Office – July 30, 2024 1 Comment

This week’s pastor’s note comes from Jeff Trask, NCF Adjunct Pastor. In this note, Jeff addresses the recent tragedy of Sonya Massey’s murder and how we can respond with apathy or action. –Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor

I watched, in horror, another incident of modern day lynching take place on the video released concerning Sonya Massey. It is beyond comprehension what goes through a person’s mind to brutally murder an innocent civilian when your calling is to protect and serve innocent civilians.

Unfortunately, I cannot say I am surprised. It is difficult to avoid becoming numb after one tragedy after the next, after the next, after the next. However, I cannot afford to become numb, or complacent, or apathetic, or uninvolved because the victim was not me or my family. I have to respond as if Sonya were my mother, my sister, my aunt, my daughter, my cousin, and my friend because we all come from the same creative design called humanity.

My humanity urges me to speak out, to be infuriated, to ensure those responsible are held accountable, and most of all, take action to avoid another tragedy such as this. 

Reparations goes well beyond a check. Reparations include policy changes, new laws, new assurances, a change of culture, a change in society. Reparations is a way of thinking and acting differently about the chasm between black and white in this country. It reflects an acknowledgement that black people are human too and therefore have all the rights and authorities of other humans and, when that is violated, justice is delivered promptly and according to the harm incurred.

As we know, there is not enough justice to make up for tragedies like the murder of Sonya Massey. However, we must continue to do our part to create a world where the most that can be done is the least that should be done. Each of us can contribute to creating such a world.

Let’s continue the fight together and make positive change in this world. –Jeff Trask, NCF Adjunct Pastor