How do you stop a crime wave when the authorities are the attackers? When 911 is lighting the match?
Pull out your phone and press record. As Elie Wiesel said, quoting Leviticus, "Don’t stand idly by if you witness injustice. You must intervene. You must interfere.”
We are fast becoming a country where, when you are being attacked, you can’t call the police. You can’t call 911. Because 911 is often what’s attacking you.
How do you stop a five-alarm fire when 911 is lighting the match?
With all the autocratic horrors that we’ve seen in the US in recent weeks - so many that it has become normalized to see battalions of soldiers at the Lincoln Memorial - it’s hard to pinpoint a single incident as a tipping point, the moment when the attack on our freedoms became a five-alarm fire.
Was it the red-carpet welcome for the world’s most notorious dictator?
Was it the use of government agencies like the IRS to threaten political opponents?
Was it the stream of proposals designed to undermine elections?
With so many options to choose from, perhaps we can look at what’s happening right now in Washington DC, where a federalized response to a fictitious crime wave has been exposed as just another thuggish wave of attacks on immigrants, almost none of whom are actual criminals. A Washington Post reporter on a morning jog recorded one violent arrest of a delivery driver. Here are segments of the video, which went viral, and an interview of the reporter:
This kind of scene has become normalized, not only in Washington, but across the country. Whether it’s immigrants of color or what Stephen Miller scornfully called, “stupid white hippies,” who are presumably Trump’s next target population, illegal, abusive altercations with law enforcement are now happening routinely.
And so are the recordings. This one happened to have been made by a journalist, but one who was off duty and coincidently was passing by, standing in the background. But he chose not to stand by idly.
In America, there is no longer such a thing as “off duty.” Not for journalists, not for clergy (we were never off duty anyway) and not for anyone who cares.
The law enforcement arm of our government - along with, most frighteningly, the military - is now being turned on its own people, people with constitutional rights, immigrants and lifers, non-citizens and citizens too. While we are not yet at the point where Trumpism has corrupted every police force and every corner of the Pentagon, we are unmistakably headed in that direction.
We need to gather the spiritual and political wherewithal to fight off this threat, while at the same time recognizing that most first responders are still heroes who recognize their responsibility to protect us. Some are, have been, and will be, key whistleblowers who will gum the works of this nescient fascist regime, to give the forces of justice the chance to catch up.
But, given the increasing threat of a politicized, masked law enforcement authority, the question of the day is, What do you do when you see such blatant injustice occurring on the streets of our cities?
One answer undoubtedly resides in our technology. The first thing you do is pull out your phone and, instead of swiping “emergency,” press “record.”
We need to share the images of this, America’s second most shameful hour.
During the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, I was struck by the heroism of the bystanders who testified. They had heard the clarion call of Elie Wiesel: “Don’t stand idly by if you witness injustice. You must intervene. You must interfere.”
We’ve already seen the difference phones can make. But only if courageous people are willing to use them.
Our traditional sources, including the Bible, command us not to stand idly by. It all stems from the verse, ‘Thou shalt not stand by the blood of thy neighbor’ (Leviticus 19:16).”
The Talmud uses that verse as a basis to promote a posture of active intervention rather than passivity. As it states (Sanhedrin 73a), “Whence do we know that if a person sees his neighbor drowning, mauled by beasts, or attacked by robbers, he is bound to save him? From the verse, “Thou shalt not stand idly by.”
It’s ironic - and even laughable - that in new recruitment ads for ICE, DHS is using the Bible to promote the very attacks on neighbors that Leviticus begs us to stop. I don’t know what scripture DHS is reading but you have to stretch it pretty far to claim that this bully-fest is a ‘righteous’ fight against immigrants.
Here’s one example of a biblical verse used in an ICE recruitment video as a prooftext for the righteousness of this cause (if you want to see the full video, you’ll have to look it up yourself). It’s from Proverbs 28:
This verse, which has nothing to do with refugees or immigration, is supposed to entice bored, angry Christian Nationalist males to chase down weak, defenseless refugees. According to Religion News Service, the soundtrack for the recruitment video features the opening monologue of The Batman movie (2022), with actor Robert Pattinson declaring, “They think I’m hiding in the shadow, but I am the shadow,” a nod at immigration agents’ readiness for their mission.
Maybe I can entice our bored bully to actually open his text to Proverbs 28 and read these verses from the very same chapter:
Evidently, King Solomon, the traditional author of Proverbs, read the Big Ugly Bill.
Would bottom-scraping poll numbers qualify as a “pit?”
Can’t imagine who they are talking about!
Maybe Robert Pattinson can give us a vampire’s perspective on hiding in dark places.
Sorry, DHS, please leave the biblical scholarship to the professionals. It’s as if that very chapter of Proverbs was put there to mock your pitch. You can’t just cherry-pick (or shall we say, cherry-mander??) a single verse that you think works, when the rest of the chapter puts your argument to shame.
The Bible has many sections that are far from “woke,” but the commandment to love the stranger is repeated 36 times. And the mitzvah to not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor is as clear as day. Everyone from the Talmudic sages to Elie Wiesel understood that. You’ve failed Proverbs 101. I can’t imagine your final grade on the books of Ruth and Esther.
For you DHS wannabee Bible-thumpers, here are a whole bunch of quotes from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament calling on us to embrace the stranger.
Meanwhile, we need to recall that these criminals run from the true message of the Bible, which is why they are masked, fearing the camera, terrified to be identified. They can’t even pause to look in the mirror and see past the lies that fuel their rage. In no legitimate police force would a trained officer echo partisan talking points like “You liberals already ruined this country,” which was said by a masked marauder on the Washington Post reporter’s video, in an attempt to ward off pestering bystanders.
Right now, the phone is mightier than the sword. The technology of social media, which has so distorted our experience of reality, can also project truth to billions. In this case, it is a good thing.
So press record and upload all the evidence you can. Who needs the Smithsonian to showcase our greatest national embarrassments? Perhaps our second most egregious ignominy in 250 years, trailing only enslavement, is happening right now, right outside our windows, and we can share our nation’s shame with the world, free of charge. The streets of Washington and L.A. have become our real-time Smithsonian.
We need to share the images of America’s second most shameful hour, and preserve them for our children, who, God willing, will live in a better America and a restored democracy.
Who needs the Smithsonian to showcase our greatest national embarrassments? Perhaps our second most egregious ignominy in 250 years is happening right now, right outside our windows, and we can share our nation’s shame with the world, free of charge.
MEANWHILE, SOME QUICK SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
If you are the victim and not merely the bystander, what do you do when the police are the ones attacking you? Here are some practical suggestions to protect yourself, aside from recording the evidence:
Know your rights - If you are an immigrant, and even if not, print out this rights card and keep it in your pocket.
Have the phone number of officials you can trust close at hand: your Senator or Representative, your clergy, etc.
Reach out to your local ACLU affiliate. You can find a helpful page of guidelines here.1
Remember that for so many Americans, this is not something new. For more background, watch the recent PBS documentary, Driving While Black.
Any other ideas? Please share them.
And finally, just to reinforce my point that our government knows nothing about the Bible they so arrogantly wave in our faces, here’s another biblical account for them to chew on:
When the young Moses went out and saw his fellow Israelite being beaten, as he was about to strike the taskmaster, the text says, “he turned this way and that. …” Perhaps he saw no potential witnesses and figured it was OK to strike.
Or perhaps he saw lots of people around, but they all looked haggard and weary — like slaves — and he calculated that no one would have the strength to testify against him. Moses understood that moral paralysis is the mark of enslavement; the people had been cowed into complicity — to idleness — indifferent to the plight of their fellow and unlikely to get involved. So Moses got involved.
And so must we.
Here are some of the guidelines from the ACLU:
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