The blood of Mother Africa runs through our bodies. It is a scientific fact proven and known. It is also the invisible link that gives us strength-connects us to the old ways, oral traditions, the call & response, to our ancestors’ great kings & queens. It connects us to the essence of being us that is in the fiber of our soul. It is the steady drumbeat we still hear from the continent. Now more than ever we need hope.
We are calling on the ancestors and every caring human being to help us save the innocent from the massive brutality of hate. I have been praying and begging for someone to help. Please just STOP. This macabre game of what black or brown man, woman, teen, or child will be next? Is this a bizarre Russian Roulette game gone horribly wrong? If yes, then stop-we do not want to play this game anymore. A black or brown body is seen as a weapon, a target to shoot like a hunted animal, a disposable being, a person without worth or value. Please STOP. Where is the moral center of America? Where is the humanity given from one person to another? What has happened to enable this killing of innocent black and brown people to become the norm? What happened to the golden rule we were taught as children-Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Did you not learn the theme songs, or hear the messages from childhood television shows that brought us all together? Barney, Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, the Muppets these shows and so many more provided age-appropriate subject matter on unity, respect, and kindness. How did the hate, fear, prejudice, and the perception of the loss of white control and the loss of a dominant white power structure lead to the constant murdering of black and brown innocence?
According to research the Black body still maintains the DNA of slavery. We carry the remnants of 410 years of horror in our being-the remnants of slavery live in us. This trauma which continues to pile one senseless murder on top of another senseless murder, another drive-by, another mass shooting-the trauma is taking a huge toll on the emotional and physical health of the Black & Brown Communities-Please Stop.
The internal scream that no one hears has no place to go is silently shouting from my being. I am screaming with my entire body to Please Stop Killing Us. I am begging you to stop the way an enslaved mother would beg you not to sell her children away from her. I am silently shouting with anguish over the loss of so many innocent people especially by those who have sworn to protect and serve-But who is this really for? I carry the pain of every mother, father, spouse, grandparent, partner, sibling, child, family member, and friend who has experienced and keeps living these horrific horrors day in and day out.
This can no longer become the norm, the expected. We cannot become desensitized. There are millions of voices raised with mine, were a cacophony of different tones, decibels, sounds, accents, and pain. Yet we are unified in our vocals asking you to stop, to see our humanness, our personhood, pleading for justice, fighting for fairness in a world that has never been fair to us.
Leave Black & Brown innocence alone. Understand our talents, brilliance, hearts, contributions to the community, our innovation born by necessity, our love for family, strong work ethic, our natural swag, the magic, are but a few of our gifts we give to the world. Our discovery of the next earth-shattering invention to cure an incurable disease can be snuffed out permanently in seconds when you take another innocent Black or Brown life. STOP! Quit killing us. Find your humanity & moral center for the sake of our country to save humankind and to save innocent black & brown people.
Please Stop.
Stand with the YWCA Against Racism (SAR)
April 22, 2021
Today was a good day. The past year has been fraught with unforeseen horrors. A global pandemic that stopped a nation and put fear in our hearts.
Black and Brown innocence became target practice for police brutality. Asian Americans were (wrongfully) singled out as the conceivers and initial transmitters of Covid-19 that has to date killed over three million people worldwide.
But today in spite of a 3-week trial in which we relived the televised lynching of George Floyd,10 miles away in the same state Daunte Wright was murdered by a police officer who allegedly meant to tase him but somehow shot him confusing her gun for the taser-another young Black male senselessly killed.
I have described my beloved country as a killing field in a Wild Wild West with law and order nonexistent. The color of one’s skin is a visual always present threat. Every man, woman, and child is fending for themselves and for survival primarily against those who have sworn to protect and serve. Yes, it has come to that.
But today was a good day. The dynamic members of the Race & Social Justice Committee of the YWCA of Spokane stood together and stood strong asking the community to Stand Against Racism. This year, the YWCA is addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis. In an evening that offered thought-provoking poetry, rap, gospel, and musical harmonies, the event both entertained and informed.
The celebration of local artist was a delight for the event attendees in the midst of dark realities. The tough constantly challenging topics of racial discrimination, inequities in housing, health care, education, nutrition, transportation, and socioeconomic levels were discussed lead by a skillful moderator and a thoughtful, insightful panel.
The YWCA has asked that we take the pledge and stand with them. Please visit ywcaspokane.org and pledge to Stand Against Racism. Let's make every day a good day and eliminate racism.
By: Steffie Lynn Article attached here.