Exactly right on the religion. Christianity was used as a cudgel and then offered as a salve.
I am also an attorney and have never seen this in this context. The idea that a judge would do this to a black man convicted of murdering a white woman in her home would make my head explode. I believe she is endorsed by the Dallas FOP and that is basically that.
“Jean had to be exceptional. The DA had to be exceptional (and let’s be clear, statistically, pursuing a murder charge against a cop in the first place is exceptional).”
Of course the ‘push’ to forgive from white folks is racist and they should be held accountable for their complicity in lauding how ‘great’ it is that the kid forgave the cop but ...The Jean family is from a country where the people are 98% of African descent. Can’t blame the kid’s forgiveness on American white…
Honestly, I wish I could start a virtual slow clap for you.
Which is why it was problematic. This kind of fuckery in public just perpetuates Black forgiveness as a right. You will note that white families of white murder victims are not pushed to declare their forgiveness in public. Actually, it’s the opposite. They are allowed to be as angry as they want, talk all kinds of…
Grieving is inhuman? What if he’d decided to not extend forgiveness like that? I’m going to assume you didn’t mean it like that, because I don’t think you did; but it ironically denies him his humanity.
And the magical negro comes in to save the day right at the end, again.
Nobody’s judging that young man, as you put it.
Bree Newsome has your back
You don’t have to be
After the images of this went viral all you saw were comments, tweets & Instagram posts from white evangelicals about “the power of forgiveness” & other hokey religious bullshit. Full disclosure I am a religious person and believe in God but comments like this are why they laugh at us while their cops pull the…
People often say that when they forgive someone they’re doing it for themselves, not for the person who is being forgiven. Because society likes to tell us we’re wrong for feeling our own feelings, we’re being told that Brandt forgiving this bitch means that everything should be all good now. Newsflash: It’ll never be…
So very true. We also have The Church to thank for our damaged psyche as well.
I’m glad I came across this comment. It was performative. I believe the brother did it to satisfy his own ego, knowing so many people will congratulate and praise him. I don’t believe that he was being selfless at all.
this is a great comment and i totally agree. i also noticed that it’s mostly white people on social media who are loving this whole “gracious forgiveness” shit.
There are some folks who are really invested in performative forgiveness. If you ever look into the case that inspired the Dirty John podcast, you’ll hear of a mother who testified FOR her daughter’s ex-husband. The ex shot her daughter in cold blood in the back of the head (explicitly she testified at the trial he…
That sentence is a joke, but it’s the usual benefit of white innocence blah blah blah..
Shocked by the result but its a good call (assuming articles summaries of the case facts are accurate).