Misunderstanding Forgiveness

I have been wrestling with forgiveness this week.  To be honest, I have been wrestling with forgiveness for twenty years, but the murders in Charleston this week brought the old tension to the fore.  I too have suffered the loss of a family member by brutal murder, and like the families of the victims in Charleston, I made a choice to forgive.  But I think that there’s a fundamental confusion in the media and in the general consciousness about what forgiveness is and who it’s for.

I’ve watched people celebrate the victims’ family members for having the courage and strength to forgive the man who killed their loved ones.  At the same time, I’ve heard the exhausted calls of activists who are sick of being expected to forgive atrocity after atrocity when nothing changes.  Why should forgiveness make murder okay?  Murder is never okay.  Black Girl Dangerous hits the nail…