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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSen. Mike Johnston(Colo.)writes a letter to a black Denver church
My heart breaks for those children of God that we lost in your sister church in South Carolina tonight. On a night when old, devastating patterns of racial injustice return like childhood nightmares, it seemed the best thing to do was to get out of my bed and drive over here to make sure this note was the first thing you saw when you walked in the church tomorrow. This white man is driving over to this AME church to tell you how deeply grateful I am that the leaders of your church have helped build this city, and how honored I am that the ancestors of this church have helped build this great country.
For centuries your church has stood for the unconditional love, unfettered hope, and relentless forgiveness that define the American spirit. I want you to know I stand arm in arm with you today in your grief. I refuse to let one deranged man speak for me, and I also refuse to stay silent after his abomination.
I drove over just to remind you and remind myself of the words from one of Americas greatest preachers and one of the Lords greatest prophets who said that Hate can not drive out hate, only love can do that. With that truth in mind, in the wake of tonights heartless stabs of hatred, I drove here to reaffirm the overwhelming supremacy of love. And to stand with millions of other white men who are proud to call you brothers and sisters, and who feel compelled now to right the wrongs of generations past by ensuring that these lost loved ones you will not grieve alone, this hollow hatred you will not face alone, and this righteous justice you will not seek alone.
As a white man I have never been called on to be an ambassador for my race. I was never the only person who looked like me in a college seminar when the room uncomfortably waited for me to speak up on behalf of my people, I have never been the one at the cocktail party confused for the help. And when America met Timothy McVeigh or Ted Kascinzki or Dylan Klebold I never for a minute worried that their illness said something about me.
Tonight is different. When a white man walks into a church full of black folks deep in prayer at one of the nations historic AME churches and begins shooting, it has the catastrophic power to reignite a racial stereotype centuries in the healing: the seared image of white man as racial predator. I imagine that if I drove through the parking lot of any AME church tomorrow morning I would inspire the locking of car doors, holding your children a little tighter, faces paralyzed with fear, and for good reason. That was why I couldnt wait until tomorrow. The history is too long and the hurt is too raw.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/06/18/after-south-carolina-this-white-man-sen-mike-johnston-writes-a-letter-to-a-black-denver-church/121286/
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)sufrommich
(22,871 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)CherokeeDem
(3,709 posts)Heartfelt and moving....
Thank you for posting....
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)I hope the letter was received in the spirit it was intended. And it was a nice gesture. But really, what er have here is the consequence of 30 years of right wing hate speech that has gone largely unchecked and unchallenged. The shooter may not be mentally fit, but I bet he was fit enough to hear all this hate speech over the years.
We have to hold the racist demagogues accountable. It isn't just free speech. They are inciting domestic terrorism.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)I am so glad there are people in our political system who are willing to speak the plain truth. This is domestic terrorism. It is was not one man. This racial terrorism has been going on hundreds of years in our country.
He is encouraging donations at the link below. Money cannot bring back the dead and cannot express our sorrow. But money CAN help our brothers and sisters rebuild. Please be generous.
https://go.berniesanders.com/page/m/24fb2189/43f7b19b/5ec8b89a/621dbeac/1313491310/VEsH/
Here is Bernie's message
What transpired in Charleston, South Carolina, last night was not just a tragedy, it was an act of terror.
Nine of our fellow Americans were murdered while praying in a historic church because of the color of their skin. This senseless violence fills me with outrage, disgust, and a deep, deep sadness.
This hateful killing is a horrific reminder that, while we have made important progress in civil rights for all of our people, we are far from eradicating racism.
The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is one that has been attacked, burned, and rebuilt throughout its 200-year history. While their community mourns now, they will rebuild, and they will emerge stronger than before.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and their congregation. But we can add our actions to our prayers. The families and the community that have been hurt so very badly by this brutality need our help. Let us stand with them in their time of mourning.