The Forgiveness Dynamic: Brandt Jean, Amber Guyger, and Our Racist Inheritance
Season 2, Episode 207, Oct 17, 2019, 01:00 PM
While this installment of What In God’s Name was recorded before Atatiana Jefferson was shot by a Fort Worth police officer in her home, Shayna and Chris are talking about systemic racism this week, as part of their reflections on the similar case of Botham Jean, and his murder at the hand of Amber Guyger.
Brandt Jean (Botham’s brother) spoke words of forgiveness to Amber Guyger at her sentencing. What is forgiveness? What are the psycho-spiritual dynamics involved in forgiveness? What is forgiveness NOT?
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Here are timecodes to help you navigate through today’s show:
02:30 For those (like Chris) who hadn’t followed the story, Shayna gives a recap of Botham Jean’s murder at the hands of Amber Guyger, and the scene in the courtroom when Amber was sentenced.
05:00 What is forgiveness? Why is it easy to confuse forgiveness with condoning? Does the offender need to be repentant in order to be forgiven?
08:00 Shayna introduces the element of race in this story: Amber Guyger is white; Botham Jean was a black man. How does the issue of race make it more difficult and complicated to make sense of what happened?
13:00 How difficult is forgiveness? What makes it difficult? Who is the hardest person to forgive?
14:50 Is forgiveness the willing forfeiture of the right of revenge? Does forgiving mean forgetting? Does the fact of our forgiving someone mean that we must let that person who has injured us, back into our lives?
19:10 What are we to do with the fact that some of us see systemic racism and its deleterious effects, and some of us don’t?