So many lives to count, but never too many to be named—
because we need to name the murdered,
the Men and Women of Color
who were victims of a
sanctioned genocide in the name of Justice.
We will remember your names:
Alton Sterling
Philando Castile
Freddie Gray
Walter Scott
Eric Garner
Keith Childress
Bettie Jones
Dominick Wise
and the hundreds more who have been killed.
Because Your Life Mattered
Because Black Lives Matter
Because Life is Precious
Because You Deserved to Live
Because you deserved to be held in love,
you deserved to be treated with respect,
you deserved to go home
to your family and friends.
Because you did not deserve to die
in an unnamed war,
to be named as another “Black Man Shot.”
So we will paint Your Name upon our hearts
and we will stand in Love
to Raise Up Justice,
to expose these Cultural Shadows
so we will never forget.
Because we can never forget.
Because we need to feel—
the rage
the terror.
We need to feel—
the despairing grief of the mother,
the hot tears of injustice,
the absolute terror for those
who lost their son, daughter, father, mother,
friend, lover, brother and sister,
to hands of hatred, racism, classism and patriarchy;
to hundreds of years of torture,
to the systematic hunt and kill of African Americans,
of People of Color.
Because we must feel
this rage and terror.
Because we must not
isolate our hearts and remain numb.
Because we must go
deep into this trauma
that is lived by every
Person of Color.
And we must transform this fear,
this hatred and racism,
because it is time to heal Racial Genocide
and allow the reality of Hate
to Wake Us
to Shake Us
to Show Us the Truth,
so we will Act
and not go back to our comfortable lives
of complacency.
As White People of Privilege,
we need to feel this deep in our bones.
We must own this and refuse to allow this.
We must not go back to sleep.
As White People of Privilege,
we must Listen and Learn,
Humble ourselves and Grow together.
We are not here to save.
We are here to support.
We are here to change ourselves
and use our own power
to Change this System.
Standing side by side
with our Comrades of Color,
we will Scribe the Names of the Fallen
upon the Walls of Bureaucracy,
within the Halls of Separation,
upon the Graves of the Men
who Killed the Innocent.
And hopefully, one day,
there will be forgiveness.
We must stand side by side
as we did with King,
and we must never
walk away
Because Black Lives Matter
Because Life is Precious
Because They Deserved to Live
Because We Have a Dream
that All Men and Women are
Created Equal.
Because all Life is Sacred,
and Black Lives must Matter
for All Life to Matter.
Author: Ashley Aurora
Image: 5chw4r73/Flickr
Editors: Nicole Cameron; Yoli Ramazzina
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