I am shocked and heartbroken at the massacre in Charleston. When such a violent assault occurs, it is more than just personal, more than a reflection of one person’s hate and madness. Racism is structural, a framework built into society that channels eruptions of violence onto black bodies just as surely as a strategic break in the levee channels the floodwaters of the Mississippi into the Lower Night Ward.
There will always be broken people boiling over with hatred and pain, but racism says who to hate. Each unpunished police murder of a black or brown person reinforces the idea that society welcomes and condones such murders.
And that is why it is important, even though a thousands have already said so, to add our voices, whatever our race or color may be, and say, “No! No, we do not condone these murders, we do not consent to police who go trigger-happy on every black or brown suspect, we do not agree to a world in which the color of your skin marks you as a target.”
Let us name and remember those who died in a place which should have been a sanctuary of peace and strength and safety:
Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Clementa Pinkney. Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Rev.Sharonda Singleton, and Myra Thompson!!!
May the wind carry their spirits gently, may the earth receive their bodies, and may the great spirit of compassion and love that moves the galaxies cradle their souls.
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