Silence The Violence: Sitting In Protest With John Lewis | The Odyssey Online
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Politics and Activism

Silence The Violence: Sitting In Protest With John Lewis

My experience with living history in a new era of civil rights.

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Silence The Violence: Sitting In Protest With John Lewis
nytimes.com

Yes. There may have been more white people statistically killed by police this year but considering the history of how police began may allow you to reconsider with the legacy of Jim Crow segregation. Yes. All lives matter but right now we are focusing on black lives because some people continue to be disillusioned with that reality that doesn't exist. So please respect what Black America is feeling right now. The feeling that can't escape the pit of your stomach as you watch two live murders on Facebook for two days straight is not grief, but tiredness. The tiredness that makes you say enough is enough. The tiredness that makes you want to be so quick to pull the trigger in an act of vengeance. It is the tiredness that makes you lose your religion. It is the tiredness I felt as I marched with Members of Congress from the White House to the U.S. Capitol. It is the tiredness I felt as I sat in on the House Floor chanting no bill, no break. We are quick to think about gun violence as universal but can we afford to ignore the conversation of violence when it has to deal with the innocent lives lost by victims of police brutality? At the end of the day, whether we are Republican or Democrat, gay or straight, Christian or atheist, we must come together and do what is best for all human beings to live without fear of being gunned down while walking down the street, within their homes, or being stopped by the police.


Who does America want to serve and protect? When will people realize that being a police officer is an occupation; pigmentation will not be erased. Simply saying you don't see color does not eliminate the problem but, calling out racism and prejudice may. I am here to ask the question, When have all lives ever mattered in history? When was America ever great?

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