:: Church

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once said, “The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.” And time and time again, the United States continues to devalue the lives of people of color ― thus, proving U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's quote to be truer and truer each and every passing day, week, month, and year. Heck, if we are being brutally honest, we can break that down to seconds and minutes because it seems each day another BLACK life is lost.

So, as much as I'd love to be singing a different tune, I must speak on what is happening NOW. As, what is happening around me affects me deeply as it dictates the way I move through each day, the things I say, the things I do, the people I choose to give my time to, the things I pray about each and every night, and just EVERY aspect of my waking life (mind, body and soul). And when one person, as Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently put it, threatens the justice of people anywhere, then that very person threatens the justice of EVERYONE everywhere.

Such was the case in the recent shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Like a wicked flashback memory of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963 where four young girls were found dead in the debris of the church, a white man, by the name of Dylann Storm Roof, opened fire in the Emanuel AME church on Wednesday night killing nine BLACK individuals. NINE BLACK lives were lost all in the name of what?

As the media deems it: terrorism.

As the media deems it: a troubled young man crippled by mental illness.

As the media deems it: everything but "RACISM."

Because, how could this horrible act be an act of RACISM? How could this horrible act be fueled simply by the pure hatred of the BLACK race?

Well, America, I am sorry to burst your bubble, though I agree this was indeed an act of TERRORISM because this young WHITE man used violence to seek some sort of personal gain for his own self and those with like-minded beliefs, I must make it clear, that this act WAS an act of RACISM. To the highest supreme, this was a HATE CRIME. You can try and sugar coat it however you'd like, but the fact and reality of it is that this young man opened fire in an historically predominately all-BLACK church killing nine individuals. He did NOT walk into a church attended by predominately white individuals. He did NOT murder nine white individuals. He murdered nine BLACK individuals.

This is as BLACK and WHITE as it gets.

It still remains that we cannot seek solace in the sacred confines of church walls. It still remains that we must live in fear of our lives ending abruptly because we were BLACK in the wrong place and wrong time. It still remains that we are the scapegoats of America. It still remains that we are enslaved to the white man and white woman. It still remains, the chains of histories passed, wrapped around our ankles and wrists reminding us constantly that our very LIVES have zero worth. It still remains. It. STILL. Remains.

If I could put into words the pain that is in my heart, I'd do it. But alas, I haven't the words. I haven't the strength.

And to the nine lives lost, may you rest in POWER and in peace. May your families get through these trying times. May some semblance of justice come out of this horrid massacre. It is on this note, that I draw this post to an end.

―

Like many times before, I reiterate the importance of staying AWAKE. Staying AWARE.

More now so than ever, we cannot let these atrocities go unheard. We cannot continue to sit on the sidelines, praying and waiting for white people to realize the errors of their ways. We cannot wait. It is only a matter of time before a revolution is upon us. And I hope you will be ready.

Because we ― as BLACK men and women ― will be.

Learn more here: Charleston Church Shooting

Further reading: Hypocrisy of American Police Violence

Again, become AWARE. When you know better, you do better.

―

:: Post Rationalizing(s)

"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."

― Malcolm X ―