A horrific and violent hate crime was committed this week in Charleston, SC. A white young man went in to a historic black church and opened gun fire, killing nine people. He wanted to start a race war. These are the facts, there is no fixing the damage that has been done. All that can be changed is the future, the living can still have hope of healing. The community in Charleston will grieve but this also needs to occur nationally. Grief is part of a healing eradicates hate and moves us forward to a new place.
This is an actionable moment. Through the last year we have seen more and more racial tension. There has been more and more concern, demonstration and riots resulting after the unnecessary loss of black lives. There have been so many opinions but not full recognition of the problem. There has been no real leadership, no clear distinction of the first step to take towards healing, just a lot of listening, confusion and concern. After Ferguson I wondered why our culture hadn’t come further since the Rodney King riots some 20 years ago. Now I wonder why we have not come further from the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. Yet, no civil war or civil rights movement was ever necessary without serious crimes of injustice. In the aftermath of this hate, the shock of this crime can compel us to act.
The perpetrator, a homeland terrorist, wanted to start a race war. He will stand trial and may receive the death penalty. However, ultimately justice lies in our hands. We can eliminate any prejudice in our own hearts and minds. We can insist on viewing each other as equals, no matter what may differentiate us from each other. The ultimate revenge or punishment for someone who wanted to foster racial violence is to make this moment the beginning of the strongest unity we have ever had.
Every black person, every white person, every person of faith, every American is or should be standing in solidarity with the victims of this crime and the entire black community. The lives that were lost should be honored and let this darkest hour become the day we burry bigotry. Then, maybe someday, we will be able to say that because of Charlestown we are stronger.
TheUnOpinionatedBlog 