Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy is calling on Christians to repent of racism and fight for their black brothers and sisters in the wake of ongoing protests over the police killings of Rayshard Brooks and other black Americans, and for the “indignities or injustice” experienced by them.
“I think we have to recognize we are in a very special moment right now that the answer is not just for this to go off the radar screen, go back to talking about COVID-19, to talk about world peace, the environment,” Cathy said. “Politics is going to be coming up here this fall. I believe if we miss this moment, we would have failed in our generation.”
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Brooks was shot dead by an Atlanta police officer at a Wendy’s parking lot after he aimed a police taser that he took from the officers in a struggle. The incident happened just three weeks after the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. Floyd’s death set off global protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Brooks’ death also sparked fresh protests in Atlanta and more discussion on racism but also of crime within the black community as Brooks had a long rap sheet including drugs, child abuse and endangerment.
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Cathy said he believes that because white people have not asked enough about the experience of black people, their response has been one of apathy and indifference. “It’s somebody else’s deal,” Cathy said. “This is about police shooting people; it’s much more than that. It’s about the grind of that kind of indignity and other expressions of it.”
He explained that in recent weeks he had been having deep conversations with black staff members at Chick-fil-A and has learned about the “subtleties of these indignities or injustice expressed even in a corporate setting.”
“We’ve got a real bad situation,” Cathy said. “We don’t need to let this moment miss us. It has to hurt us. It has to hurt us. And we as Caucasians, until we’re willing to just pick up the baton and fight for our black, African American brothers and sisters, which they are as one human race, we’re shameful. We’re just adding to it. Our silence is so huge at this time. We cannot be silent. Somebody has to fight and God has so blessed our city, but it’s shameful how we let things get so out of whack.”
Cathy asked for “a period of contrition and a broken heart” concerning how blacks have been treated. This came after hearing about Christian singer Lecrae’s experiences with racial profiling.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
