Our Cancel Culture

I hate to admit it, but I’ve been called out for being a silent, white conservative.

In a YouTube video, Bevelyn Beatty, an outspoken black, conservative, Christian, called me out. Miss Beatty dares to ask white Christians if they are afraid, to tell the truth to the black community. To be clear, I agreed with everything she said in regard to the unrest in our current culture and I also had to admit that I was afraid. I’m afraid of being shut down and canceled out and hurt. However, this fear is not what I want for myself or my family. I need to break my silence and speak out about society’s tendency to judge and then ruin an entire life based on a few seconds captured on a cellphone.

Our Cancel Culture

A while back, before the riots, destruction, and murders, I was concerned about our cancel culture. Society is using words and cell phones like weapons, assaulting anyone they disagree with by putting it on social media for all the world to see. Phones are recording people in their worst moments yet there is always an untold story behind the video clips. People have words and get heated but no one records this part of the story. We don’t hear how a situation escalates. We don’t know how people feel threatened and then strike out in fear. We only see videos of the moment at it’s most heated and we as a society use them, put them on instant social media.

Before you know it, a person has lost all dignity, lost a job, or suffered threats on their life.  They have no recourse but to try to remain hidden. Their life as they know it is canceled. This is the new justice in society.

Harassed for Speaking Up

Typically I don’t speak up when I see these flashes of ‘news’ in social media. The reason I don’t is due to the fact that I know I don’t know all the facts. I know there is more to the story but one day, I did hear more about a particular story so I spoke up. I hoped that before someone’s life was canceled, we would dig up more facts. Punishment must fit the crime right? I wasn’t taking sides. It’s possible for both parties in an argument to be in the wrong, especially if fear is involved. So I spoke up, hoping to be a rational voice. In doing so my statement was called unchristian; my mercy misplaced. I was quickly shut down and yes, I became fearful. I disabled my social media account, afraid of being harassed. After the riots began, my fear was fed and I sat mute, refusing to write anything lest my words are taken out of context. So much has happened since and it can be hard to take a stand but I believe now is the time to break the silence.

Break the Silence

What, with all that has been and is being said regarding prejudice and civil disruptions, taking over towns, and demanding a de-funding of police, can I add? I’m not writing because I think I’ve got all the answers. I’m just like so many of us who are praying through these days, wondering what God wants me to know through it all and how he wants me to give over my fears. These are just a few of my many thoughts over the past few weeks.

Life as a 911 Dispatcher

More than 20 years ago, I worked in the police field as a 911 dispatcher. At the time, we had three dispatchers in the radio room for a city with a population of about 35,000. At no time, due to public and officer safety were we to be alone, not even a bathroom break. It was deemed unsafe.

As dispatchers began to quit for a better job or just the stress, the department decided it needed a hiring freeze to save money. So, now we were down to two. If we were allowed a lunch or bathroom break, an officer had to come in off the street to do our job. Many a break was interrupted because of emergencies. Those officers were needed on the street. With the stress of a lack of employees, more dispatchers quit. Those of us who were left really needed to step it up. I remember a midnight shift working alone with no break and never once sat in my chair because it was that busy. I handled all of the calls coming in, both emergency and non-emergency, all of the walk-in traffic, telling all of the officers where I needed to send them, keeping track of their safety, all of the computer and paperwork, and bonding people out. I was literally talking to people on the phone, officers, and anyone in the station, all talking at the same time. This is not an exaggeration. Eight hours and not even a potty break, and this is just a mid-size town. I wasn’t alone in the stress. We all needed to get this done, to keep everyone safe.

Since we proved our muster, our worth, the higher-ups decided we were up to the task and they’d keep their hiring freeze. We were doing the work of three at times and certainly didn’t get the pay to show for it. We female dispatchers also did matron duty. A woman under arrest needs a woman present. I have been fought with and spit at. Not a sworn officer, a dispatcher. Replacing police with social workers won’t stop anyone from fighting with you. How much is really saved by this mentality? Our stress levels were up, we were sick more often and someone with a much deserved day off would be canceled to come in and cover the shift (overtime costs more).

I cried before my shifts and I’d sit in the parking lot and cry after. I was a dispatcher. I wasn’t a police officer. There is so much more stress with their jobs. We’d often ride along with them so we could see from their view. Hiring freezes were there for them as well. Anything to save a buck. We saw people at their worst moments and it was often thankless. With all of this said, I can still honestly say that I loved the job itself, but hated the stress. Even though I’ve been out of it for over 20 years, I still have a nightmare now and then about having to get back to it.

A Story Before the Cameras Roll

Stop judging, that you may not be judged (Matthew 7:1).

So, why am I writing about my old experiences and what am I trying to glean from this? Well, some would say that one answer to the few who might possibly be abusing their police power is for all police to wear body cams. I believe there are both pros and cons to this approach, but that’s not really what I want to tackle here. What I really want to get back to is the fact that there’s always a story before the camera starts rolling and the video doesn’t tell the whole of it. Whether or not it’s the victim, offender, or officers involved, it changes forever someones life, but it’s not all the factors.

Don’t Simply Cancel Someone

So, I pose this question. How is your body cam? Honestly, you have one, and I have one. It’s been with us since the moment of our conception. Every detail, every word spoke in secret, every iota has been recorded. I don’t know about you, but this gives me pause. How many discussions have we had that we could have de-escalated before someone’s life was deeply damaged, or ‘canceled’? How many times have we thought, ‘I wish I could take that back”, or “I wish I had known that before I spoke”?

Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her (John 8:7).

God sees the whole video of our lives. When the time comes, there won’t be anyone else to blame, no statues to topple; just me and God and His mercy. Will His mercy be misplaced on me? Be it for good or ill, Miss Beatty, thank you for calling me out.

 “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.ⁱ This is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12).