Sisters,

I’m sorry for missing last week’s post. I have been flat on my back, sick as a dog. I think I’ve finally turned a corner and am ready to resume my place in the fight for justice and freedom. Today’s post will be a little different. I want to share what was on my heart before I got sick. JUSTICE.

Before I got sick, I had an opportunity to visit The Legacy Sites, created by the Equal Justice Initiative, in Montgomery, Alabama. The experience was transformational. Experiencing The Legacy Museum, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, and Montgomery Square broke me open in ways I could not have anticipated and forged an even deeper commitment to work for racial and social justice in these United States.

If you are a Black person, make it your business to go to Montgomery to experience the horrors and triumphs of our ancestors. There, I learned about Slave Laws that dictated the abuses levied against enslaved folks for nothing at all or for standing up for themselves. I saw the memorials to folks lynched in the counties where my parents were born; it made me shudder to my core. What could have become of those men and women and their children? Could we have been cousins? What potential was NEVER realized because of hate and violence for no cause other than being Black in America?!

I have never felt such deep agony and rage over what our ancestors suffered at the hands of so many white people (and other races) for simply existing. Pregnant women were lynched because they expressed grief and rage at the lynching of their husbands. Black children were lynched because they looked threatening to white children. Black men were lynched for demanding payment for services rendered or for refusing to give their hard-earned land away to a white man who wanted it.

When I wondered out loud how any group of people could hate another group of human beings so much as to murder and maim them for NO REASON, one of the facilitators from The Radical Optimist Collaborative shared her way of thinking about the question.

She told me that not understanding them brought her comfort. Because if she understood, then maybe there was some part of them that also lived in her. Some connection to the pathology that made them commit such heinous acts, and that not being able to relate to them means we are cut off from the sickness that makes hate proliferate and be expressed in unspeakable acts of violence towards Black folks.

This gave me comfort and an added perspective about how we MUST proceed in our fight for justice. Our work for healing, justice, and freedom MUST be grounded in a deep awareness of who we are and our history in this nation. Not enough of us KNOW the history of our ancestors before and after they arrived on these harsh shores.

Start by watching this video from EJI’s Founder, Bryan Stevenson, and create a budget and timeline for a sojourn at The Legacy Sites. We cannot prevent a return to the Jim Crow past without understanding what happened then and how lawmakers are creating policies that mimic that time. Make it your business to watch, read, listen, and ask questions about African and African American history. There is no excuse for our continued ignorance when places like The Legacy Sites exist and extraordinary filmmakers are producing works that make history accessible and informative.

The fight for justice and freedom will likely NEVER be won. Evil and misguided men and women will likely always see us as a threat. I have given up the idea of that utopian existence because, sadly, we as human beings are flawed. Therefore, we must NEVER give up the fight. We ARE worth it. WE CAN do it.

In solidarity,

Dr. Stephanie, WE CAN Founder