A Statement Dedicated to Our Brother George
From undefeated.com: A mural of George Floyd painted by the artist Eme Freethinker on a wall at Mauerpark in Berlin.
by Lisa Tealer, BACHAC Executive Director
Dear Community,
I dedicate the following statement to our Brother George and to all the named and unnamed people who have died because of the color of their skin, who they loved, how they spoke, where they were born, who they worshipped or who others thought they were.
I needed to take a minute before I could send out this statement. On Tuesday, April 20th, I literally held my breath as the first conviction was read. However, that was my choice, a choice that was stolen from our Brother George. After the third conviction came a sigh of relief yet there still was a pit in my stomach. A pit of pain for Brother George's family and the list of names of other Black and Brown brothers and sisters whose lives and breaths were taken from them by the very system that is supposed to protect them. That voice inside said, “Is this what it takes, a modern day lynching on video tape, a year of global protests, a river of shedded tears and mountains of anguish and despair to get some justice?”
“Is this what it takes, a modern day lynching on video tape, a year of global protests, a river of shedded tears and mountains of anguish and despair to get some justice?”
My hope moving forward is that the answer is no. That we can all make a commitment to say 'No More' but more importantly take action, be involved, help others tell their stories, hold people in authority accountable, challenge the systems and processes that perpetuate this engrained trauma.
As you know BACHAC is about action and we will take the next few weeks to broaden our conversations to further incorporate more social justice aspects into our work. These issues are impacting the lives and the health of our community!
I have mentioned this before, in times of trouble, I can hear the voice of my grandmother, “Baby, you've had a good cry, do you feel better? Good, and now, wipe those tears and catch your breath and tell me what are you going to do about it?” So I pose this to all of us, after we wipe our tears and write our statements, the question remains, What are we going to do about it? I look forward to exploring those answers with you.