Today, we mark the fifth anniversary of the massacre at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church. Five years later, what have we learned? Are we any better today than we were five years ago?
While confederate monuments (and monuments to slave traders and other racists) are falling across the country and the globe, what are the substantive actions that we are taking to reduce fear in our communities?
That the downfall of such monuments required these tumultuous times of pandemic and the exposure of systemic racism by witnessing the last moments of life for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks is abominable and disgusting.
The raw visualization of fearful and lethal tactics by police organizations across the country appears to have spurred change…as evidenced by the tens of thousands of protesters who have marched for days and weeks across every state in the union. But how long lasting will or could this change be? It’s five years later…what do you see?
May the nine lives lost at Mother Emanuel AME never be forgotten. Our struggle continues. This work continues. Fight the fear and be free.