race, faith, and forgiveness

Last week, a white woman was convicted of murder.  She was a Dallas police officer who shot and killed a young black man in his own apartment.  She mistakenly believed he was trespassing in her apartment and shot him in the chest.  She wept on the witness stand in her own defense.  She expressed remorse.  On the night of the shooting, she apparently expressed her concern that she might lose her job over the deadly mistake.  Her lawyers used a sort of stand your ground defense, suggesting that she was defending herself and her apartment from what she believed was a break in.  As a police officer, she is trained to shoot with deadly accuracy.
After she is found guilty of murder, the younger brother of the victim offered her forgiveness from the stand.  He said he loved her like anyone else. He asked the judge for permission to giver her a hug.  They embraced.  Afterward, the judge herself gave her a hug and her own personal bible.  Both the judge and the victims's brother are African American people and Christians.  They offered the forgiveness of sins and a life in Christ for the defendant.
Many people were stunned and moved by their public witness, a testimony to their faith in God.  The victim;s parents were surprised by their son's testimony.  In their devastating grief, they were not yet willing to offer forgiveness.  In  fact, they continue to seek justice for their son. His murderer faced a life sentence; the prosecutors asked for 28 years ,the age of her victim, Botham Jean.  She received ten years, with the possibility of parole in 5.
If the racial identities had been reversed.  If a black man had accidentally shot and killed a white woman in her apartment, the trial and sentencing would have been much different.  No doubt, he would face the death penalty in Texas.  No doubt, there would be a lynching and little in the way of public forgiveness.  Race plays a major factor in sentencing. African Americans make up 14%% of the U.S. population and more than 40% of death row inmates.
Racial bias played a significant part in the murder of Botham Jean, in the trial, conviction, and sentencing of his murderer, and in the response by the judge and the brother.  A white woman experiences sympathy and forgiveness.  African Americans are expected to suffer violence and forgive.  They're supposed to behave like Christians, to model Christ like behavior.  Black grief and cries for justice are heard as excessive emotional outbursts.   The racist double standard is that the white person is offered a chance for restored innocence, while the black family's grief and anger is perceived as excessively punitive. 
What's troubling is that forgiveness is good, godly, Christ-like and worthy of imitation.  Its just that black folks are either being punished by white folks for being black or they're forgiving white people for violently mistreating them because they are black.  The expectation and practice of public forgiveness suggests that its okay for white people to abuse, hurt, or unjustly treat black people.  It excuses racist acts like the one that took Botham Jean's life and the lives of Michael brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray.  White people can and should be forgiven for their crimes against black men.  This is the painful truth of a racist society.  Quick to forgive, we see the psychological effects of internalized racial oppression.  In the name of Jesus, the system is perpetuated.   
In this case, should the sentence have been longer?  Would that have brought about justice?  Should they have withheld the public act of forgiveness?  Botham Jean's mother commended her son for his courageous and faithful act in the courtroom.  But she also demanded reform to a corrupt and racially biased criminal justice system.  And she is right.  Her son's death must lead to change in law enforcement practices and in rooting out racially baised profiling that turns deadly when coupled with gun violence. 
How do Christians wrestle with this?  Do we show mercy and offer forgiveness? Do we seek justice for the oppressed?  Do we lift up the systemic racism that causes these deadly encounters?  Do we pray?  Do we give away bibles and "let God do the rest of the work?"
I think Christians need to have an open conversation about racism, about violence, about systemic oppression, and about repentance.  Forgiveness without the hard and necessary work to transform  unjust systems is complicity with injustice.  Justice without forgiveness is often retributive and punitive.
The hardest work begins inside my own heart and mind.  How am I confronting my own biases, prejudices, and privileged place in a racist system that favors whiteness and maleness?  What stories do I still need to hear in order to change?