“‘Let Justice roll down like waters in a mighty stream,’ said the Prophet Amos. He was seeking not consensus but the cleansing action of revolutionary change.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr ~
well come to justice june once again, i say once again for these were my opening words two years ago following the murder of George Floyd, a murder that opened the eyes of so many of us across the planet to the horrors of white supremacy with so many calls for actions that would lead to justice rolling down in cleansing actions guided by love creating a world of peace… and, and a year ago i wrote that here we are again still in a crossroads moment witnessing justice being denied and feeling a planetary tidal wave of grief wondering why is it so difficult to change, how could we still be hearing daily about more murders? for the third straight year, as we begin justice june it is a moment of eternity when our hearts are so heavy with 16 mass shootings in the last eight days and the last one i know of happening a few hours ago on the St Francis hospital campus in Tulsa…
two years ago in this moment of eternity, i wrote that this is the moment for us all to join hands and stand in love for love being justice in every thought, word and deed… i still hold this is the moment for that and for so much more… it is way past overdue to pass the George Floyd Policing Act and the Breathe Act and gun regulation laws and for each of us in our communities to do what we can no matter how small an action to promote justice and a world where everyone is safe to walk down the streets, go to the movies and the grocery store and to school and to medical appointments and on and on…
today, a mass shooting in Tulsa and on this day a hundred and one years ago a terrible massacre occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma – let’s see what lessons about justice and re-building and re-conciliation we might learn from this dark moment…
“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot, black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot. I will not and other survivors do not and our descendants do not.”
~Viola Fletcher, 107-year-old survivor of Tulsa Massacre~
on this day a century and a year ago, the most successful African American business district in the country at that time-Greenwood-was obliterated following a White mob coming into the Greenwood District, looting the businesses, setting fire to the buildings and homes, dropping turpentine bombs from planes on the buildings from above, and killing 300 Black people…
here we are, 101 years after Greenwood burned, and we are still in the throes of White supremacy and of turning to violence… when will we dismantle this consciousness and work to repair the breach? let us do some heavy lifting this moonth… i’ll close with a way the Tulsa Massacre was commemorated a century later using trees, education and re-conciliation to channel resilience… there is an elm tree still standing that witnessed the massacre where 10,000 people were left homeless and now it is dedicated as a memorial and an inspiration to our ability to continue growing and changing… community members were given elm seedlings to plant all over the city…
“We are all… planting the seeds of reconciliation, and hope, and love,” says Glenda Love-Williams, the co-chair of fundraising for the Tulsa Massacre Centennial Commission. “This is our way of celebrating healing and reconciliation.” may we all be inspired to look deeply within and plant seeds of reconciliation, hope and love and water them with justice with every breath so that all living beings walk in balance and peace…
