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Katie
and
Arbuey
Wright,
parents
of
Daunte
Wright,
cry as
they
speak
during
funeral
services
of
Daunte
Wright
at
Shiloh
Temple
International
Ministries
in
Minneapolis,
Thursday,
April
22,
2021.
Wright,
20, was
fatally
shot by
a
Brooklyn
Center,
Minn.,
police
officer
during a
traffic
stop.
(AP
Photo/Julio
Cortez,
Pool)
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The Dawn
of
Justice
- Not
Yet A
Bright
New Day!
Op-Ed by
Rev. Dr.
Wendell
Anthony,
President,
Detroit
Branch
NAACP
DETROIT
– As a
small
boy
living
in St.
Louis,
the bed
where I
slept
was
underneath
a big
window.
On
summer
nights
we slept
with it
open and
watched
the
stars
and the
moon
shining
brightly
overhead.
We
didn’t
have any
shades
or
curtains,
so it
made our
viewing
very
clear.
We
wanted
the
midnight
to soon
be over.
My
cousins
and I
would no
longer
be
constrained
by the
darkness
of the
hour. As
the
morning
approached,
I could
witness
the dawn
bursting
just
over the
horizon.
A little
light
was
beginning
to show
the
promise
of a new
day. It
was not
the
brightness
of a new
day; it
was
simply a
dawning
light.
The
recent
verdicts
of
guilty,
guilty,
guilty
is in
the case
of Derek
Chauvin
is a
dawning
light
peeking
its head
just
above
the
horizon
of
justice.
It is
not yet
a new
day in
America.
It has
the
potential
to be
the
promise
of
justice.
At last,
there is
one case
in which
a white
police
officer
was
convicted
on all
counts
in the
murder
of an
unarmed
Black
man.
However,
the
judge
has yet
to
render a
sentence,
and the
other
three
officers
involved
in the
death of
George
Floyd
have yet
to be
held
accountable
for
their
complicity
in nine
minutes
twenty-nine
seconds
of
inhumanity.
This
certainly
is a
moment
to pause
and
reflect
upon the
results
of this
case. It
is time
for a
deep and
penetrating
dive
into a
new
direction
for
policing.
It
provides
to us a
moment
to
discover
how to
serve
and
really
protect
citizens
in the
Black
community
with
integrity
and
transparency.
Where do
we go
from
here?
W.E.B.
DuBois
once
said,
“Between
me and
the
other
world
there is
ever an
unmasked
question,
how does
it feel
to be a
problem?”
This is
a case
where
white
people
have
problems,
but
Black
people
are
problems.
Perhaps
in this
dawning
of
justice
we can
begin to
see
Black
men not
as a
dangerous
threat
but as
human
beings
deserving
mutual
respect.
However,
a bright
new day
has not
yet
come.
April
22, we
mourned
and
funeralized
Daunte
Wright.
He was a
20-year-old
shot by
a
26-year
police
veteran,
Kim
Potter.
Two days
after
the
conviction
of Derek
Chauvin
Potter
said she
“mistook
her
pistol
to be a
taser.”
No, the
beat
should
not just
go on
after
this
human
tragedy.
I have
often
wondered
why
Black
police
officers
who
train
just
like
their
white
counterparts
do not
regularly
engage
in such
activity.
After
all,
they
wear the
same
uniforms,
go
through
the same
training,
are
governed
by the
same
laws,
carry
the same
weapons,
drive
the same
cars,
take the
same
oath,
wear the
same
uniform,
carry
the same
badge,
are
located
in the
same
precinct,
and yet
they do
not make
the same
mistakes.
Is there
a reason
that two
or four
Black
police
officers
are
never
found
killing,
maiming,
or
humiliating
white
men,
women,
or their
sons and
daughters
during a
police
stop or
any
other
stop for
that
matter?
Dr.
Martin
Luther
King,
Jr. at a
speech
before
the
American
Psychological
Association
in 1967
stated,
“White
America
needs to
understand
that it
is
poisoned
to its
soul by
racism
and the
understanding
needs to
be more
carefully
documented
and
consequently
more
difficult
to
reject.”
It is
not
enough
to just
be
anti-racist.
One must
really
be
pro-justice.
One must
be
daring
and
courageous,
even in
the
midst of
unpopularity
and
resentment.
The
words of
17-year-old
Darnella
Frazier,
who
recorded
the
murder
of
George
Floyd
with her
cell
phone,
will
forever
speak to
our
heart.
When
taking
the
witness
stand in
the
Derek
Chauvin
trial
she
said,
“It
wasn’t
right. I
have a
black
father.
I have a
black
brother.
I have
black
friends.
When I
look at
that It
could
have
been one
of
them.”
In
1965
Rabbi
Abraham
Joshua
Heschel
marched
with Dr.
Martin
Luther
King,
Jr. in
Selma
Alabama.
After
the
march he
said, “I
felt
like my
legs
were
praying
justice,
justice,
justice,
you
shall
pursue.”
Justice
is not
served
to Black
people
on a
silver
platter.
It must
be
hunted,
captured,
baked,
and then
served
by those
who
believe
in it
and are
fulfilled
by its
substance.
The
actuality
of
justice
is not
realized
by the
simple
delivering
of one
verdict.
It makes
us feel
better
and
gives us
hope. We
must
continue
to work
for the
passage
of the
George
Floyd
Justice
in
Policing
Act.
We
must
defeat
the
treacherous
voting
suppression
bills
that are
circulating
throughout
the land
seeking
communities
of color
to
destroy.
We must
pass
H.R.1,
the For
The
People
Act. We
must
also
pass the
John
Lewis
Voting
Rights
Act. If
we are
truly to
commemorate
George
Floyd,
Breonna
Taylor,
Eric
Garner,
Philando
Castile,
Tamir
Rice,
Michael
Brown,
Priscilla
Slater,
Laquan
McDonald,
Andrew
Brown,
Jr.,
Ma’Khia
Bryant,
and so
many
others,
let us
unite to
pass
these
laws. We
can help
change
behavior
by
changing
the
policies
that
govern
it.
We
cannot
allow
the new
implementation
of
anti-protest
laws now
introduced
in
Oklahoma
and
Florida
to
negate
peaceful
demonstration
to
spread
throughout
the
nation.
This
political
trend is
intended
to have
the same
effect
as the
current
bills of
voter
suppression.
These
laws are
intended
to
negate
the very
right of
African
Americans
to
exercise
their
vote and
now to
express
with
their
voice
political
discontent.
American
democracy
must not
fall
victim
to
legislative
aristocracy.
The
First
Amendment
guarantees
the
right of
free
expression
which is
the
cornerstone
of
American
values.
It does
not have
any
shades
or
curtains
covering
its
meaning.
The view
of our
civil
rights
is quite
clear.
We will
not be
constrained
by the
darkness
of the
hour.
If we do
not do
this,
then we
in
America
are not
worthy
of the
words of
Emma
Lazarus
engraved
on the
tablet
of our
Statue
of
Liberty.
“Give me
your
tired,
your
poor,
your
huddled
masses,
yearning
to
breathe
free.
The
wretched
refuse
of your
teeming
shore.
Send
these,
the
homeless,
tempest-tossed
to me. I
lift my
lamp
before
the
golden
door.”
Let us
not
allow
the lamp
of
liberty
and
justice
to go
out on
our
freedom.
Let us
not
permit
the door
to be
closed
because
we
failed
to open
up a
passageway
for
every
American
to pass
through.
Let us
finally
breathe
free!
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