If you did not know any better, you would think that America was in the middle of the same kind of civil war that has plagued the Middle East for the last 50+ years.On Thursday, July 7, we watched media images of a peaceful protest that turned violent when a sniper attacked police. The scene in Dallas as police scrambled to take cover from the gunfire could have easily been a scene in Iraq or Israel. America, who is arguably one
of the most if not the most civilized nation in the world, is in crisis.
The chaos that has come to the surface as a result of the police
shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in
St. Paul, Minnesota, two black men, as well as the killing of five police
officers* in Dallas, Texas on this week has been brewing for a long time. Police
shootings like that of Mike Brown, Tamir Rice and LaQuan McDonald, and the deaths
of Freddy Gray and Sandra Bland in police custody, all occurring within the
last two years, have stoked the fires of anger and indignation in African
American communities and those individuals who sympathize with them.
At a time when technology and social media has made
communicating around the world as easy as shouting across your neighborhood street,
our nation is experiencing the worst of times with regard to how we relate to each
another. Police brutality seems to be on the rise and even with the recent
videos of police dancing with kids in communities like Washington, D.C., New
York City, and North Carolina, it has not assuaged the feelings of discontent
that many feel as a result of the unexplainable deaths of black
men and women at the hands of police or while in police custody.
We need change and we need it now. It starts with each of
us. William Henry Johnson said, “If it is to be, it is up to me.”
Here are a few helpful steps you can take to start bringing about the type of change we need:
- No. 1 – Pray, meditate and/or do whatever you
need to do to get yourself centered. Pray for a strategy. Pray so that God or
your “inner spirit” reveals to you what action to take or what group you should
unite with.
- No. 2. – Get informed. Do more than just look at
the news. Read and view information from several sources.
- No. 3 – Do
not resort to violence. You are your brother’s and sister’s keeper.
Make sure they do not partake in violence. We cannot afford to lose another
soul to violence.
- No. 4. – Take Action: March, Write, Organize,
Donate, Use Your Voice…Speak Out, etc.
- No. 5 – Practice self-care. Care for yourself,
your family and close friends. Spend time talking about what’s going on so that
we give one another the opportunity to express our feelings and release some of
the emotional pain that these events have caused us.
If things are going to change, it is going to be “us” who bring
about the change. We are the ones…we are the Martin Kings, Ella Bakers,
Thurgood Marshalls, Malcolm Xs and Fannie Lou Hamers of this generation. We are
the ones we have been waiting for. We are the ones to rise up.
