On Shelley Luther: Let Me Make All Y'all Mad
Updated: Thankfully, the Texas Supreme Court has ordered Shelley Luther released from jail.
Shelley Luther should not be in jail for opening her hair salon in Dallas, TX. It is a remarkable overreach against a woman struggling to get by and take care of her family.
Shelley Luther should also not have reopened her business.
Lots of people are rushing to take sides. I’m on both sides and somewhere in the middle.
For the past two months, I have been paying for haircuts that I would not get. I have sent extra money to my barbershop to help some of the younger barbers who do not have a lot of clients. My wife has done similarly with her salon. We have sent money to help a few restaurants struggling to hold on to employees. I tell you this not to brag, but to ask a question: where were Shelley Luther’s patrons? Why didn’t they take care of her? Not everyone is in a position to, but some are and they apparently did not.
I am afraid we have lost the ability to nuance in so much of this. Overbearing local officials need to show a level of restraint so people do not willfully ignore the law. But people need to respect the rule of law.
The argument used by Ms. Luther — that she needs to take care of her family — is the same argument used by many illegal aliens who cross into this country. They just want to work and send money home. But many of Ms. Luther’s defenders are undoubtedly opposed to illegal immigrants doing as she did. They can nuance on citizenship, but that only goes so far. Both are disrespecting the rule of law.
One can argue about the justice of the laws, but everyone can question any law they do not like, particularly when it impedes taking care of their families. And yes, the very same people happy that the government rounded up Ms. Luther will defend illegal aliens. The sides are still equally divided, they just reversed the roles.
Ultimately, scripture tells us to honor the law and to break any law is a sin unless the law itself violates God’s law. It was not sinful for Martin Luther King and civil rights activists to defy laws that treated people differently based on the color of their skin. God is colorblind. Justice must be.
But it is within the right of governments to say during a pandemic that some businesses are not essential and should close. Christians should honor those laws, including Ms. Luther whose business, like all other hair salons in the area, had to close.
Nuance and twist scripture all you like, but the government had the legitimate and lawful and just ability to do that to stop a virus spreading and people of faith must honor the law.
Likewise, let’s be outraged at the government for wanting to jail a woman during a pandemic whose only crime is trying to survive. There is a level of hypocrisy in the enforcement too. Fine her and close her shop, but putting her in jail is nuts. Couple justice with mercy. Let’s also be outraged at the government for not helping her while she was closed. The payroll protection program has been botched all around. The congress nor the state and local governments have spent so much time focused on the Fortune 500’s lobbyists they ignored the man and woman who had no lobbyist.
There have been failures all around and the situation on all sides is far more complicated requiring far more sympathy and empathy than too many people want to give. What we should give is grace — grace to a government trying to navigate a pandemic and grace to the small business owner trying to survive.
What we have in Dallas is a failure, but it is a failure on all sides and one increasingly politicized. The rule of law needs to be respected, even the ones you don’t like. But that does not mean the enforcers of the law need to be jackasses about enforcement. It also does not mean I need to cheer one side or the other when both have merit to their argument and both should have acted differently.
Ms. Luther should never have opened. Her customers should have supported her through tough times. The local government should never have carted her off to jail.
Okay...
Erick,
You do not know that her patrons did not help her as much as they could, and it was still not enough to pay and her employees bills. To place blame on them for her need to earn money is patently unfair and incredibly condescending.
You tell us we are honor bound to obey's men's law, then you say that MLK Jr was justified in breaking the law because God is color blind. Seriously? It was okay for MLK to break the law, but not Shelley Luther? God does not care for her ability to honor her legal obligations to pay her landlord, to pay her taxes, to pay her utility bills...simply because it is not a "social justice" law she is breaking.
Shelley Luther walked the walked with bravery and grace. She accepted the legal consequences to her actions, and when asked to state before the court that she was selfish, her response was (paraphrased): I do not believe it is selfish to work to feed my children. I do not believe it is selfish to help my employees pay their bills.
Finally, I am able to nuance the difference between American citizens needing to work and people illegally entering our country. Ignoring the fact that a governor's exercise of an emergency power is not actually a law, but a proclamation of power, my nuance is that Shelley Luther broke the "law," and was punished according to the "law." Should not the same apply to people who enter our country illegally? Should they, too, not be bound by the law?
Erick, I agree that 1. Christians should strive to keep laws. 2. Governments have the right to take measures to stop pandemics. It is also clear that one cannot cut hair without violating social distancing restrictions, which is why Trump objected to that aspect of Governor Kemp's plan to reopen Georgia. But on the side of Shelley Luther, not everybody has the financial resources to support their barber, their restaurant owner, their ... when they themselves are out of work and there is nobody to support them. It is admirable that you are able and willing to do that, but not everybody can. The comparison to illegal aliens isn't appropriate because the laws preventing illegal entry to the US have nothing to do with a Corona pandemic. In contrast, Shelly Luther is an innocent victim of a very long Corona lock down who has been denied a source of income by government fiat without just compensation. This is arguably a violation of the 5th amendment clause, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation," as the government has more or less confiscated her ability to earn income without just compensation.