The killing of Ahmaud Arbery was heart-wrenching. Murdered in broad daylight by a father and son team who were not arrested for over 2 months. Sadly, for too many of our fellow citizens, it was just another day in America.
Then the murder of George Floyd. Almost 9 minutes of brutality, the inhumanity broadcast around the world. A murder conducted by those in uniform hired to ‘protect and serve’ the community.
I pray these two murders mark a turning point.
If you were among those previously ambivalent about a movement called "Black Lives Matter,” perhaps you now understand why it is necessary.
These killings come as but the latest in a seemingly endless line of racially motivated killings (a.k.a. lynchings) in America.
But maybe they are different this time.
This time, we were all witnesses. It is no longer possible for us to pretend we did not see, to turn and go about our lives as if nothing happened.
As I watched George Floyd being murdered by a police officer, I knew this could happen to my brother-in-law.
On any day, in any city in America, the murdered man on the sidewalk could be any one of my brothers:
Kofi, Dub, Ray, Dwayne, Danny or his son Terrance…
When does it end? How does it end?
Here is one simple way for us to at least begin:
Support Project Light and their work passing House Bill 426 The Hate Crime Bill.
Georgia is one of the few states in the country without legislation that allows for tougher penalties for hate crimes.
Beyond that?
Don’t let amnesia set in.
Yes, it’s the American Way, but allowing it to continue will prove ever more costly for our society. Remember George Floyd. Remember Ahmaud Arbery.
Remember Breonna Taylor. She was a decorated emergency medical technician, shot to death by police in her home.
This is not new.
Educate yourself and have conversations. Have discussion with folks that look like you, and folks that don’t look like you. Search out information and expand your understanding of the African American experience in this country. See my website for suggestions to get you started. Then, talk labout what you’ve learned and about what is happening in our world now.
Al Vivian, president and CEO of Basic Diversity, conducts Leadership Atlanta’s eye-opening “race weekend,” and one of Project Light’s founders, PJ Bain, spoke about the impact the “race weekend” had on him:
“I call it my wokeness. I started out being defensive. Now I’m on the other side. It’s extremely important that white people with privilege, white people with power and white people with influence recognize when injustice is occurring. I don’t want to be the person who saw that injustice and did not speak out.”
Don’t be silent. Yes, evil exists in our world, and it is up to each of us to speak against that evil.
Project Light can be found here:
https://www.project-light.org
Maria Saporta’s article can be found here:
https://saportareport.com/project-light-shines-bright-as-atlantans-seek-to-drive-out-hate-darkness/
Stay woke. May love sustain us all.