By A. John Ukpe
Some people are outraged that George Floyd had too many criminal records
to be buried like a hero. In response, a friend put it thus, “To
dredge up and lavishly serve a man’s criminal past, totally ignoring the
redemptive chapters that marked the latter part of his life in the wake
of his unjust murder and even as the whole world is hurting from that
incident among many other such murders which are symptomatic of
centuries-old racial bias, injustice, and arbitrary brutality is
disrespectful, insensitive and downright maddening.” I concur.
Leading the pack of those who are upset with Floyd’s martyr status is
Candace Owens, the African American conservative apologist, ideologue
and commentator. Perhaps, if Owens was there when Jesus Christ was
given the task of convicting the woman caught in adultery and he rather
said, “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone,” she would
reached for a rock to smash the woman’s head. But the morale of the
story of the woman caught in adultery is that all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God.
The Bible acknowledges this and advises us not to judge one another.
More so, George Floyd’s pastor, Pastor Patrick Ngwolo, claims that
Floyd had a turnaround, counseled kids not to to make the mistakes he
made in life, and did well as a Christian in later life. It is even
believed that Floyd relocated to Minnesota to reformat and reboot his
life and take care of his inner demons. As a proof for ten years he did
not have any run-in with the law, until the incident which led to his
death.
But the skeptics would not want to let go of his sordid past. They would
not lower the placard that he was jailed nine times. Owens should
remember that Jesus was NOT crucified between two saints, He was
crucified between two notorious thieves. Jesus himself said that he did
not come for saints, like Owens; he came for sinners, like George Floyd.
Candace Owens and her supporters forget that the film actor Danny Trejo
was arrested and jailed several times before he turned his life around
and made it big in the silver screen. Malcolm X was also an ex-convict.
In Nigeria there is the popular story of a notorious armed robber, Judah
Author, who converted and is now a pastor. Of course you know about Paul
the Apostle who was a murderer before he had an encounter with Jesus
Christ and became a leading Christian apostle. History is littered with
many criminals who turned their lives around. If Floyd did not turn his
life completely around, then he was still in the process. This is why he
was attending church. He may have been laboring to sanitize his life
and rid himself of his past demons.
Those who attend church and those who do not attend church are all
sinners. The only difference is that those who do not attend church are
running after sin, and those who do attend church are trying to run away
from sin. You may still be on drugs and be attending church and praying
that God would help you to overcome the habit. As humans we only judge
the habits of people, not their inner pains and agonies over their
inability to stop those habits.
To those who wonder how the woman Floyd once robbed would feel about
Floyd being so celebrated, I dare to ask them how the brothers and
sisters of Stephen felt after Paul who led his murder was canonized?
Stephen’s brothers and sisters may have remembered that with his last
breath Stephen prayed God to forgive his murderers. It is entirely
possible that the woman Floyd robbed would have moved on, asked God to
forgive him, and would have shared the global sense of pain at his
callous murder.
But there is more to Floyd’s death, than his past suggests. God uses
the weak things of this world to change the world. He did not use
Alexandar the Great or Ghenzis Khan to change the world, He used a
carpentar’s son, Jesus Christ. If He chooses to use a “serial
criminal” like Floyd to stop racism in the world, so be it. It is the
curative power of the medicine that determines its administration, not
how bitter it is to swallow or how painful it is to take.
Floyd was buried as a hero, not so much because he was one, but because
the world perhaps saw burying him like that as an atonement for one of
the most callous atrocities and abuse of power ever witnessed since the
advent of democracy. This was a classic case in all respects. A white
cop murdered a black man while black and white onlookers jointly
protested vociferously and sought to save his life. In his death, whites
and blacks have protested together. These scenes give us comfort that we
do not need to repent anymore for the appalling silence of the good
people – the good people are speaking out; the bad people have been
silenced.
Slowing killing a man in nine minutes by cutting off his air supply,
while he pleads for his life, is the most gruesome way to murder a man.
The world saw this as the climax of racism and decided to nip it in the
bud. More so, most Americans were outraged to see a man murdered by
another man wearing a badge and who was on oath to protect people like
the man he sadistically murdered. Over what? A mere twenty dollar note
alleged to be counterfeit.
In summary, Floyd was the last straw that broke the applecart and forced
the world to pick up the apples and count the straws.
*Pastor Anietie John Ukpe is Nigerian-based public affairs commentator
and broadcaster.
There is no friend like Jesus.
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