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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCry new tears-Write new words-Craft new prayers-Attend new marches-Channel new anger-Feel it all....
BALTIMORE IS NOT FERGUSON; FREDDIE GRAY IS NOT MICHAEL BROWN
by Damon Young, 4/28/15
http://verysmartbrothas.com/wp-content/themes/VSB2014/timthumb.php?src=&w=658&q=80
.......................
.............. Freddie Gray wasnt Eric Garner. And Eric Garner wasnt Rekia Boyd. And Rekia Boyd wasnt John Crawford III. And John Crawford III wasnt Michael Brown. And Michael Brown wasnt Eric Harris. And Eric Harris wasnt Walter Scott. And Walter Scott wasnt Laquan McDonald. And Laquan McDonald wasnt Lavall Hall. And Lavall Hall wasnt Jason Harrison. And Jason Harrison wasnt Brandon Jones. And Brandon Jones wasnt Ernest Satterwhite. And Ernest Satterwhite wasnt Anthony Hall. And Anthony Hill wasnt Tony Robinson. And Tony Robinson wasnt Tamir Rice. And Tamir Rice wasnt Tanisha Anderson. And Tanisha Anderson wasnt James Howard Allen. And James Howard Allen wasnt Akai Gurley. And Akai Gurley wasnt Ezell Ford. And Ezell Ford wasnt Rumain Brisbon. And Rumain Brisbon wasnt Darrien Hunt. And Darrien Hunt wasnt VonDerritt Myers Jr. And VonDerritt Myers Jr wasnt Aiyana Stanley-Jones. And Aiyana Stanley-Jones wasnt Luis Rodriguez. And Luis Rodriguez wasnt Ramarley Graham. And Ramarley Graham wasnt Jonathan Ferrell. And Jonathan Ferrell wasnt Jack Lamar Roberson. And Jack Lamar Roberson wasnt Kimani Gray. And Kimani Gray wasnt Anna Brown. And Anna Brown wasnt Oscar Grant. And Oscar Grant wasnt Trayvon Martin.
Each of these people were people. Loving, reckless, optimistic, sincere, manipulative, sensitive, funny, lazy, talented, weak, introverted, ambitious and every other uniquely human quality existing in each of us. They did not exist to become a narrative. Or perhaps a lede to a story. Or maybe even a policy change. They existed to exist. Not to not exist. Not to be written with a dry erase marker and erased with a closed fist when a new name, a new cause, appears. Perhaps we made them into means, but they existed as ends.
...............................
So cry new tears. Write new words. Craft new prayers. Attend new marches. Channel new anger. Feel it all again. Every bit of it. All the empathy, all the sorrow, all the rage. Dont fight it. Let it permeate you. Embrace its engulf. Because Freddie Gray deserves it. Baltimore deserves it. You deserve it. Do not allow them to desensitize you to the uniqueness and preciousness of our lives, to the beauty of being alive, and do not permit them to rob you of the agony of them being snatched away.
And when it happens again and it will happen again when another police-involved killing of an unarmed person of color turns a city upside down, do it all again.
the rest:
http://verysmartbrothas.com/baltimore-is-not-ferguson-freddie-gray-is-not-michael-brown/
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Cry new tears-Write new words-Craft new prayers-Attend new marches-Channel new anger-Feel it all.... (Original Post)
kpete
Apr 2015
OP
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)2. And it will happen again
and again, and again, and again, until we as a society decide that this is no longer acceptable.