Category: -Updates-

When, America, Will It End?

The massacre inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Caroline, cuts deeply into the souls of every decent person across this nation. The faithless, unprovoked act of a 21 year old white man during a prayer service is unconscionable. Yet, it is not rare or historically unusual. The killing of nine human beings, six women and three men, including the pastor of the church, shatters any illusion about safety on sacred grounds. It is possible the weapon used had been given to the butcher only recently as a birthday present.

The events on that fateful Wednesday night inside the church where the murderer sat with his victims for almost an hour before pulling his deadly weapon and repeatedly firing and re-loading, creates a veil of tears that blurs any notion of redemption. Is it safe anywhere in America for Black people? The church is the citadel of hope and the sanctuary to escape fear.

The precision and execution of the killer’s plot on the terms of his choosing sends a chilling message to Black people: our lives are at risk at all times in all places. Consider the site of this demonic decision, a historic African American religious institution, where its founding pastor, the Reverend Denmark Vesey, was a martyr to end slavery in Confederate South Carolina in 1822. Emanuel AME is a symbol of Black love, courage, and the advancement of justice.

It must be made clear that the threat of death at the hands of racially-insane culprits will not deter our faith or lower our resolve to address the plague of violence that saturates American culture. Instead, we must re-double our commitment to honor the lives of every human person as sacred. We hold this truth that an act against innocent people is a direct assault on God who creates, shapes, and inspires every human person in divine imagery.

The killer did not act alone. There is a source for his hatred. He was informed by others who share his depravation and support his actions. A culture of callous, criminal conduct produced the basis for his deadly deed. We have witnessed these acts before in school yards, a movie theater, classrooms, and in the House of God. In too many cases, young white men pulled the triggers and left their lifeless victims slumped dead in places where they fell.

How long will America perpetuate domestic terrorism and senseless shootings by her young sons? What will it take to change attitudes, behaviors, and minds to transform this society into a haven of sanity? When are too many deaths enough to say, “No more?” Will the necessary change come only after the last drop of blood splatters on the powerful faces of those who have never felt the cruel course of denial?

For now, once again, Black people in America weep not only for our own who have been slaughtered without mercy, but also for the lost souls who don’t realize the blunt reprisals of unyielding evil and insensitive racism.

Rev. Dr. Art Cribbs

Executive Director

Interfaith Movement

For Human Integrity

acribbs@im4humanintegrity.org

Facebook.com/im4humanintegrity

Twitter.com/4humanintegrity

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The winds of change are not blowing very hard when it comes to attitudes about the Confederate flag. Thus, it may not be too surprising to see the rise of vicious and hateful acts of burning Black churches across the South. 20 years ago, a rash of church fire bombings caused the nation to pause and wonder why the attacks occurred.

52 years ago, in Birmingham, Alabama, four little Black girls were killed in their Sunday school class when a bomb with a minimum of 15 sticks of dynamite was placed under the steps of the 16th Street Baptist. That savage attack was labeled “an act of white supremacist terrorism.”

Although the recent black church burnings are under investigation, at least three have been declared arson. Whether or not these latest assaults are tied to the controversy over removing the Confederate flag from state and public buildings, history suggests the church burnings may be hate crimes fueled by attitudes of racism and white supremacy.

According to a CNN ORC poll, 57 percent of Americans say the Confederate flag is a symbol of Southern pride and not racism.

The Confederate flag was unfurled in some Southern states during the Civil Rights movement in protest to the progress Black people were making to breakdown segregation. But, more disturbing today are indicators across the country of a major divide between Blacks and Whites in perception of racism. It is the apparent proximity to the victims of the church burnings that separate attitudes along racial lines.

For Black Americans, the burning of black churches and the massacre of black parishioners during Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina, hit very close to home and reminds Black folk of a history and legacy of violence. It is not lost on many Black people that the arrival of Black African ancestors were violently forced from their homelands, strapped to the hull of ships, brought to America across the Atlantic Ocean against their will, and brutally enslaved, legally, for more than three hundred years.

The Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves on certain conditions but did not prevent the enactment of Jim Crow, legalized segregation, the rise of public lynching, and the subsequent struggle to end discrimination.

While a majority of Whites see the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern pride, there is an apparent blind eye and a loss of memory about the declaration of war against the Union. In today’s vernacular, it was domestic terrorism that divided the nation in a civil war with a well-organized strategy to bring down the government of the United States of America.

As a society, a warning cry is sounded in this precarious and dangerous period that the protracted movement by hate groups pose a threat against Blacks, Muslims, immigrants, gays, and other people they deem targets of their hatred.

Now is the time to determine which path the nation will take into the future: tolerating racism, bigotry, and violence; or, recognizing “every human person is sacred across all borders.

” We really do have a choice in this matter. Which way, America, will we go?

(Veasey Conway / Morning News)