There’s No Rest When Injustice is Wide Awake
Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, Annapolis, MD
Everyone should enjoy the long-overdue recognition of Juneteenth, a day of jubilation, for the formally, enslaved Black people and a rebuke of ungodly domestic terrorism. Then, get back to work to make sure children and adults are not denied access to the FULL American history in our education and other institutions of learning (libraries; museums; federal/state/local policy; etc.). Every state must honor the 15th Amendment, if this is still a democracy. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be made WHOLE, again, because some elected officials & judges failed to understand that voting rights don’t come with an asterisk. The whims of sore losers should never dictate how laws that are for everyone in the republic should be treated. It is unconstitutional & dishonest for partisan elected officials and biased judges to have the right to chip away at constitutionally ratified laws, that were created & amended to create equal rights under law.
You don’t end pain by ignoring its causes. You don’t end Genocide by acting as if it didn’t happen. You teach about how it came to be and learn not to repeat it.
Aren’t you amazed by the speed politicians can move, when they want— bill gets signed on Thursday, offices & schools closed on Friday. It will require more, sustained work to make crimes against humanity take permanent hold. That includes condemnation and stiff penalties for those who commit racist & hate-fuels acts — equally applied, no matter how good your lawyer may be. No matter your skin tone or bank account. No matter your status or voting choice or office held by you or a relative.
Since the Senate, House & the White House affirmed the freedoms given to Black people in 1865, they must condemn the ungodly domestic, terroristic acts, recorded in American history — and, still in use today — by signing the #emmitttillantilynchingact. Each state is constitutionally obligated to defend all people — they don’t. You don’t condemn people fighting against racism & oppression (Black Lives Matter), while endorsing those who commit. American elected officials and internet trolls suggest storming the seat of our democracy & advancing a sea of deadly and criminal lies is an optional act, defended by the Constitution?
Federal officials added another day off — WITH pay — to an already short work week. Now, they should be as expedient in signing the #JohnLewisVotingRightsAct into law ASAP, so every voter (your employers) can decide if you deserve to be re-elected.
Black people neither survive, nor thrive, by a signed act, or a one-time check, alone. Real change comes with lasting policy change, perpetual action, and frequent monitoring of impact. Use the #georgefloydjusticeinpolicingact as the foundation — not final action — for stronger enforcements, across the land, to criminalize any and all anti-Black injustices. As the Movement for Black Lives declares, America must Let Us Breathe.
How does a nation go from penalizing the enslaved for learning to read, to the emancipation of the enslaved, to penalizing the free to read about the history of its own democracy? Fact: Critical Race Theory isn’t the enemy — lies, free flowing from elected officials and educators and parents and preachers are a threat to all of us.
The more you allow an oppressor to oppress, naturally, more people will be oppressed. Nobody is free until everybody is free. The work continues…even with a holiday. Call your elected officials in Congress (202–224–3121) & your state house today. They work for you, tell them to work FOR you.
