No longer.
Ann: Dr. King?
Dr. King: Yes, along with countless others martyred in the cause.
Finally, at last, the light shines on one of the most heinous crimes in our country’s history. And we know now that it was not unique and that it is not in the past.
As we watch our children being murdered in the streets by the duplicitous purveyors of white supremacy, those sworn to serve and protect, we see once again the contempt for those whose skin tones do not rhyme with their own. We see the fear in their eyes and in their frantic actions to keep this society from living up to the promise of equality before the law. We see those in Congress step back from their sacred duties to keep hidden the well-buried but still powerful vein of racial hatred that keeps white privilege alive.
And as this long buried trough of darkness is revealed anew, we see those who did not realize they were a part of a system of oppression and hatred awaken to their part in this travesty. They took their privilege for granted because it had never been examined, never been challenged, and never exposed to the light of day.
And we see those long dormant fighters strap on their swords and shields once more, those who once fought for independence now fight for righteousness and peace and the prayer that together we can become a community of souls whose background and color are insignificant before the absolute sanctity of our creation.
No longer can we avert our gaze from the massacre of Tulsa, the blatant destruction of a growing society that was successfully challenging the wealth, power, and effectiveness of the ruling class. We have leaders now who will not let the horror of the state sponsored murders allowed today and captured on tape for all to see – over and over and over again - recede from our collective memory.
This is the time my friends, the time we will come together, the time we will hold those to account who have strategized and contrived to keep fear dominant and subservience in fashion. No longer. And it not just the black community saying. “No longer.” It is the reawakened white populace, the emboldened Native Americans, and the long persecuted Asian Americans, to name a few components of this expanding army.
The spotlight now shines on this culture of hatred and fear for all to see, and many, more than you know are reassessing their part, however unconscious, in allowing it to prosper. Those held down in the past are standing up in droves all over the country. No amount of repressive laws and unconstitutional travesties will keep this army of the Lord from its appointed date with destiny. Watch and listen, watch and listen.
And while you do so, add your voice to the multitude crying out for justice. Pick up your sword, your pen, or your megaphone, and make your voices heard so that finally, finally, the voices of all of our citizens will be counted, and those in power will never again have the threat of Tulsa to hold over the heads of the disadvantaged.
When that happens - and it will - finally, finally, at long last we will see ourselves as one people, united, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
June 1, 2021
*The Tulsa race massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of White residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked Black residents and burned businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.[10] Alternatively known as the Black Wall Street massacre[11] or the Tulsa race riot,[12] it marks one of "the single worst incident(s) of racial violence in American history".[13] The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district – at that time the wealthiest Black community in the United States, known as "Black Wall Street".[14] Wikipedia.
As I feel the power of Dr. King's words, I bow my head in a prayer and truly believe, "...finally, at long last we will see ourselves as one people, united, indivisible with liberty and justice for all."