From: David C. Bosley, Mike Harris, Charles A. Sims, Johnnie Edwards, Frank Griffin, and Fred King
Columbus
Everyone is talking about the riot in the Capitol on Jan. 6.
We have been praying for peace in America, our safety in America, and vitality of our troops as we simultaneously pray for no more victimization of African Americans.
However, our international sisters and brothers have shared how people around the world have asked, "What is going on here regarding these shenanigans?"
We know this gross event didn’t happen in Columbus. Yet, this is where we live. We are sharing our perspective in the prayer that it illuminates discussion and understanding.
Former President Obama shared, "history will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation."
This blatant display of anarchy and cult mentality that is occurring at the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump supporters is not only disgusting, but it’s irresponsible and it goes against all that they claim to stand for. They claim to want democracy, and yet the democratic process played out as it should and now they are refusing to accept it.
This, on many levels, is unbelievable.
The African American person wonders, “What if these rioters had been Black or brown?” The sad thing is that we all know the answer as dictated by the prevailing evidence.
This is Black Tax. The unwritten rule on the penalty that must be paid for being born with dark melanin here in America.
Said another way, this is “white privilege." The unwritten benefit that those with limited dark melanin receive at birth here in America.
These rioters seemed to be walking in racist white privilege, with feet on desks and taking selfies.
Certainly, we are not saying that our white brothers and sisters that have marched with the Civil Rights Movement, and even this past summer of 2020 marching for Black Lives Matter, have not had a burden to bear for coming along side of us. They did and we are eternally grateful.
Nevertheless, there is a tax for being Black and a privilege for being white in America.
What does the Capitol mob’s actions tell us about entrenched, systemic racism? It informs us that America has quite a bit further to travel before all of its men, which are created equal, are actually treated equal.
Understand, we’re not asking you to shoot them like you shoot us. We’re asking you to not shoot us like you didn’t shoot them.
Former Capitol Police Chief Terry Gainor said that you can’t compare the police response to BLM protestors and the brash thugs that scaled the Capitol walls and stormed and trashed a historic building.
He’s right, law enforcement continues to treat Black and brown people as if we are the ultimate threat — even when you have white people pepper spraying officers, or hitting officers with metal poles.
If we recall correctly, George Zimmerman’s defense against the accused, Travon Martin, was that of his using the sidewalk as a weapon! And of course there was Tamir Rice that was shot for having a toy gun.
If you can’t understand or see the blatant discrimination in what happened between these two “protests,” there is little hope for us.
So, as Brittany King says, “A football player taking a knee is disgraceful, but a riot at the Capitol is patriotism?”
We struggle to understand.
What about the Black woman that was killed in 2013 by Capitol Hill Police and Secret Service for making a U-turn at a White House check point?
“White Americans aren’t afraid of the cops. White Americans are never afraid of the cops, even when they’re committing an insurrection,” Joy Reid said about the Trump supporters rioting in the U.S. Capitol.
Or is this the divided states of America in the shadow of another Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday?
Understand that this is the burden of living Black in America.
We expect to be more active in dealing with issues of racial inequity in the coming year, recognizing the limitations due to COVID-19.
We still pray that we would be entrusted with leaders to make any divides in our great country (and even our neighborhood) smaller. We have been praying for 400 years.
Some might ask, “Why do you still pray?”
We would share one simple response, “We are still here, yet alive to pray.”
