Baltimore Black Church dan Transformasi Konflik Pasca Kematian Freddie Gray

LODANG KUSUMO JATI, Dr. Nur Rachmat Yuliantoro

2017 | Skripsi | S1 ILMU HUBUNGAN INTERNASIONAL

Di era kontemporer, Black Church kembali dihadapkan dengan permasalahan rasial baru. Permasalahan ini berkaitan dengan terbunuhnya 11 orang Afrika-Amerika dari tahun 2012 hingga saat ini. Terbunuhnya warga Afrika Amerika, yang kebanyakan merupakan wujud brutalitas aparat keamanan negara, memunculkan gerakan sosial baru yang dinamakan Black Lives Matter. Freddie Gray merupakan satu dari sekian banyak korban yang diadvokasi melalui gerakan Black Lives Matter. Gray diduga meninggal karena perlakuan yang tidak manusiawi sesaat setelah ditangkap oleh polisi di Baltimore Barat. Pasca kematian Gray, kerusuhan besar terjadi di West Baltimore. Pada masa genting ini, beberapa Black Church seperti bekerja sama dengan geng-geng lokal mencoba menenangkan massa dan menghentikan tindak kekerasan. Tidak berhenti pada menenangkan massa saat kerusuhan pasca kematian Gray, Baltimore Black Church mencoba mentransformasi kasus Gray lebih jauh. Beberapa Black Church menganggap bahwa konflik ini harus dibawa melebihi isu solidaritas rasial dan meminta keadaan sosial ekonomi yang lebih baik bagi komunitas Afrika-Amerika. Penelitian ini akan mencoba melihat bagaimana Black Church, khususnya di Baltimore, bertindak dalam mentransformasi konflik pasca kematian Freddie Gray. Black Church di Baltimore berhasil mentransformasi konflik menjadi kerjasama ketika kekerasan terjadi di West Baltimore dengan menggunakan metode nirkekerasan berupa prosesi keagamaan. Black Church kemudian membawa aktivisme dalam kasus Gray melebihi isu solidaritas sosial. Hal ini dapat dilihat ketila Black Church membawa nuansa perjuangan ketimpangan sosial-ekonomi dalam konteks "kulit hitam" dan "kulit putih" di Amerika Serikat.

In today's America, Black Churches are facing with another new racial problem. Since 2012, eleven African-American have killed because of racial prejudice. These killing spree had become the national highlight. The killing, which mostly related to state apparatus brutality, mark the new black activism movement namely Black Lives Matter. This movement advocated Freddie Gray, one of the victims of police brutality in Baltimore. In the aftermath of Gray's death, riots happened in West Baltimore. In this dire situation, several Black Churches in Baltimore were working hand in hand with local gangs to handle this situation, using non-violent means. Not stopping at calming the angry mobs, Black Churches are also taking step further in transforming the conflict. Several Black Churches think that the conflict has to move beyond solidarity and demand a better socio-economic condition for the community. This thesis would like to examine on how Black Churches, especially in Baltimore, dealt with the riots following Gray's death and transforming the conflict. Baltimore Black Churches were successfully transforming conflict to cooperation by using non-violence method of religious procession in the context of West Baltimore riot. Furthermore, Black Church try to transform the conflict beyond solidarity and bring it to the sphere of socioeconomic gap between white and black Americans.

Kata Kunci : Keywords: Black Church, Non-Violence, Conflict Transformation, Freddie Gray