‘Can’t Hide from God’: On Forgiveness and the Unarmed Black Man

Abstract

The recent deaths of unarmed black people, especially at the hands of law enforcement, have generated a troubling new ritual, in which the media publically asks family members if they will forgive their loved ones’ killers. The first task of this paper is to cast these petitions for forgiveness as ritual. The second task is to show that black responses to the question of forgiveness challenge this ritual. Esaw Garner, Audrey DuBose, and Allison Jean disrupt the ritual and call white audiences to repentance.