A tribute to Officer Darron Burks
Joseph Green-Bishop
Each Sunday in the sweltering heat of summer and during the blistering cold of winter, Officer Darron Burks, stood on the parking lot of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas patiently waiting to help someone.
It did not matter if his feet were nearly frozen from the cold or if the intense heat was blistering, Officer Burks’ sole concern was the safety of the women, the men and the children who came to worship at his church home.
At the core of his life was a thirst for goodness and a rejection of those things that degrade people, that cause them to suffer, that cause them harm. Officer Burks, a math instructor for nearly two decades who became a police officer in the winter of last year, was adored by those who knew him, his family members, his students, his fraternity brothers, his fellow worshippers and members of law enforcement. He adored them as well.
And thus, it was a collective grief that engulfed and withered the people of Dallas and beyond when news of his death at the hands of a young man Officer Burks had pledged to serve was broadcast.
No doubt Officer Burks greeted the young man warmly when he approached his police vehicle with an intent to take his life.
He was simply that type of person, a warming, engaging, forgiving, prayerful human being. Those who knew Officer Burks well say that his final thought while confronted with peril would not have been of avarice or vengeance.
With his very last breath, they say, Officer Burks would have proclaimed:
“I have done all I could in this life. Now I behold the lamb.”
