Charleston, The SC AME Church Shooting

Charleston, SC, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church shot up—someone remind me, what year is it?  

Our latest distractions have centered around the ex-NAACP leader from Washington state, Rachel Dolezal, and her delusional identity issues.  

However, a young white male, who received a gun for his birthday, has now shot up a church.  Yes these issues surround mental health, yes these issues surround identity, and yes these issues still involve race, hate, and racism—yes, racism still exist.

I believe we all can agree one of the top ten crimes of humanity, would be the bombing of a place of worship, or the shooting of it’s congregation; whether it be a church, synagogue, or mosque.  There is outrage, there is anger, there are all these emotions we take to our place of worship, for it is there we can receive solace, we can receive some peace—how ironic.  

We are not in a state of shock, for this is not the first time we’ve witnessed a church being victimized by violence—we are four little girls short of history, if we are of that thinking.  We are in mourning; our place of worship has been desecrated and decimated by destruction and hate—again.

There is the ideology of white supremacist groups in the news, and the question of if this young man was a member of any of the groups.  On Twitter, my news feed is full of young and old African-Americans tweeting “don’t bring up black on black issues with this story” or “once the perp is caught, wait for the mental illness defense.”  This is very much a race issue, and a real issue, unlike the jokes and non-issues, which surrounded Rachel Dolezal.  

I am reminded of the group Public Enemy, and the logo that accompanied any concert a person attended—that of a black shadow in the cross-hairs, a target. 

That is today, that was last summer (#blacklivesmatter); I am feeling like prey more than ever. 

Our President, Brotha Obama, had eloquent words on the State Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney.  Like it or not, it’s a political issue, it’s a racial issue, it’s a multi-faceted issue that brings up old American issues still unresolved.  I am hopeful that we are having conversations on race, on religion, on gun control, on hate, and listening.  

I am hoping that we are having conversations on white privilege, and hoping that white people listen.  I hope that we are angry, and I hope we heal.  These are deep scars, old scars, from wounds older than the Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation. 

I am unsure as to what can be done.  There are laws in place, however fear, and mistrust are in place as well.  There will be time for an answer, for additional questions, yet now is the time to mourn.  Now is the time we express our anger and frustration, and mourn for the nine who are no longer with us. 

We will do as we have been doing, and support each other.  Even now in Aurora, CO, there is an extra head nod from my brothas and sistas I pass by on the street.  There are extra pounds, hugs, and warnings of “watch ya back.”  There is a readiness for justice, yet no amount of justice can bring back the nine who lost their lives to the senseless actions of one white young male.