The Lungs of Eric Garner and the Health of Humanity

In the story of Genesis a profound moment of creation is found when we read the following passage; “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (NIV translation). I am haunted today by the image, and echo of Eric Garner last words; “I can’t breathe”. I wonder if the life that was being choked out of him was the Ruach (Breath) found in Scripture? To take seriously the Incarnation of God is to speak of how our corporeality reflects the Divine. It also requires us to take seriously the egregious and brutal nature of what violence does to the materiality of our existence. We know that the breathing apparatus is connected to all systems found in the body. But for a moment let us think about the immediate effect of what the lungs of Eric Garner felt and, in particular, the enfolding of the experience of lack of breath on his body. Did he sense not merely his life ‘leaving’ his body but his existence being extinguished. I wonder if the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo realized he was doing (undoing) the work of God’s Creation. I have suffered from anxiety, and have had my share of panic attacks. I also have family and friends that suffer from severe asthma. In all cases when you experience the inability to draw breath (Life) we sense the immediacy of death. In these moments we are dying and we know it. It feels like a great gift is being taken away from us. I am now understanding how the ‘militarization’ of our milieu is ultimately profoundly un-Godly! This militarization ethos is much larger than merely having the largest military in the history of the world. It goes to creating, maintaining, and recreating a culture that feeds on violence. This is especially reflected on how entire culture of policing in the United States has taken on an incredible appearance of ‘military’ presence. I was recently at a coffee shop (ordering coffee since you couldn’t stay to drink it there). At about the same moment, two police officers came into the coffee shop. These two men were very, very muscular and clearly had on protective gear (military vests, weapons etc.). This wouldn’t have been so odd to me except that they had parked their cars right next to mine. When I left the coffee shop to get into my car, I noticed on their doors were the words “To Protect and To Serve”. I remember feeling that the last thing I felt when I saw these men were protected and that they were there to ‘serve’ my concerns. I don’t think this is only because of the color of my skin (although that is no doubt part of it). It has also to do with my previous interactions with this community. So, are these men there to ‘protect and serve’? If so, who/what do they protect and in point in fact who/what do they serve? The fact that these embodiments of violence (or if you wish protection and service) seem frequently to work for the benefit of the owning class and wealth accumulation makes these situations and this job, doubly the evil. I am conscious that I will immediately hear cries of ‘not all police’ are??? But my point is not on the level of particularity, but rather metaphor, symbolic and social representation. I would also recommend reading about the history of policing in the United States. They truly were originally created to protect ‘property’ (specifically slaves). I know I would have felt different (so to do I think many people in this place) had a homeless person, or a priest walked into the restaurant. We would have a sense of the ‘feel’ of the place being changed based on their presence, without even knowing the particulars of the individual. We have to come to terms with the ubiquitous quality of not only the military ‘feel’ of social reality, but also the omnipresence of an aura of violence as part of our social reality. It has become part of the ‘air that we breath’. It is also important to realize that this ‘air’ is profoundly toxic to the creation of the God who ‘breathed’ life into his Creation. It is onto-logically very dehumanizing. We are creatures who need to breathe. In order to do this, we need a healthy humanity, and even more precisely, we need a healthy universe in which we can ‘Breathe’.