Franklin Graham, son of famed televangelist Billy Graham, is getting a lot of pushback for a recent Facebook comment he made about police shootings.
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Earlier this month, Graham wrote on his Facebook page:
"Listen up--Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and everybody else. Most police shootings can be avoided. It comes down to respect for authority and obedience. If a police officer tells you to stop, you stop. If a police officer tells you to put your hands in the air, you put your hands in the air ... It’s as simple as that. Even if you think the police officer is wrong—YOU OBEY ... Some of the unnecessary shootings we have seen recently might have been avoided.”Graham's Facebook comment has created a division within the evangelical Christian community. While some have lauded Graham, others, including the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the Christian social justice magazine Sojourners, have chided him for making such remarks.
"Your Facebook post makes you seem, at best, oblivious to the racial inequity in this country’s policing and criminal justice system, which is also still deeply embedded in our American society. At worst, your post reflects your own racial biases--unconscious or conscious. It makes me sad to read such things coming from a leader in your position. So until you are equally willing to 'listen up,' please stop making such embarrassing and divisive statements," Wallis wrote last week in his own Facebook post.