{"id":408,"date":"2014-09-23T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html"},"modified":"2014-09-23T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T17:00:00","slug":"michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html","title":{"rendered":"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div style=\"background-color: white;border: 0px;direction: ltr;line-height: 21px;margin-bottom: 15px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under the law? The shooting of Michael Brown raises these questions and more.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;border: 0px;direction: ltr;line-height: 21px;margin-bottom: 15px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Unfortunately, how you answer these questions is largely determined by your race, your upbringing, and where you grew up in the world. These factors and others shape the way we view the world. Remember the Rodney King police brutality case and the O.J. Simpson murder trial? It was amazing that people who watched exactly the same evidence often came to entirely different conclusions.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;border: 0px;direction: ltr;line-height: 21px;margin-bottom: 15px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Before I say more about the Michael Brown shooting, let me share my story. It will help you better understand my standpoint.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;border: 0px;direction: ltr;line-height: 21px;margin-bottom: 15px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">I had just finished preaching at a church near Fayetteville, NC several years ago, when two other men and I packed into my Mercedes to began our trip back home along some dark country roads in the middle of nowhere.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;border: 0px;direction: ltr;line-height: 21px;margin-bottom: 15px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">For reasons still unclear to me, a police cruiser behind me activated its swirling lights in an effort to get me to pull over. Okay, you probably would have complied immediately, but I decided to continue driving slowly until we reached a well-lit gas station several miles ahead. I had seen enough questionable behavior by law enforcement officials to be a little nervous about encountering one on a narrow, pitch-black road.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;border: 0px;direction: ltr;line-height: 21px;margin-bottom: 15px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">To my astonishment, when I pulled into the Kangaroo gas station, I wasn\u2019t just greeted by one cruiser. The officer had called for backup and four other cruisers surrounded my car as if I was a notorious drug dealer or terrorist.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;border: 0px;direction: ltr;line-height: 21px;margin-bottom: 15px;padding: 0px;vertical-align: baseline\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Read the rest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/bishop-george-bloomer\/michael-brown-and-me-prof_b_5829486.html?utm_hp_ref=religion\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under the law? The shooting of Michael Brown raises these questions and more. Unfortunately, how you answer these questions is largely determined by your race, your upbringing, and where you grew up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-23T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html\",\"name\":\"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-23T17:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-23T17:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers","description":"Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers","og_description":"Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2014-09-23T17:00:00+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html","name":"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-23T17:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-23T17:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"Is there any fairness in the American justice system? Can people of every racial\/ethnic group be confident that they will receive equal treatment under","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/09\/michael-brown-and-me-profiling-preachers-and-tasers.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Michael Brown and Me: Profiling, Preachers and Tasers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}