WASHINGTON — It was a month ago that thousands of individuals came to D.C. in support of President Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and a stolen election. The daytime protests devolving into a night of chaos in the District. Violence brought to us by thugs wrapped in a right-wing ideology. I commented then that if the flames of hate keep getting fanned, at some point, we’re all going to be burned.
Well once again, those same thugs walked unchecked among us. And just as before they brought their violence into our home. Their petty rage brought to the doors of our churches as well this time. Tearing down and burning affirmations of Black Lives while claiming ownership of our streets.
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These actions are akin to those we've seen in our not-too-distant past. Acts meant to terrorize. This isn't the first time they were here, so why weren’t we prepared? Why were they allowed to go unchecked?
We’ve seen what our police can do when they believe the streets, or what seems like certain parts of the community, are threatened. We witnessed some of these actions used against protestors this past summer. Tactics bordering on the militaristic. Did we see any in use Saturday while our home was being overrun? Terrorized? I’ll leave that for you to judge for yourself.
Mayor Muriel Bowser called the desecrations an attack on us all, saying that the forces of hate sought to use destruction and intimidation to tear us apart. She’s right. This was an attack on us all, as it was meant to be, so what is being done to keep us together? To protect our home and the people who live here? All the people, physically as well as spiritually. Platitudes don’t seem to be working.
The flames that I spoke of earlier, they’re burning brighter now. This is the second time we’ve seen them on our streets. The kindling lit by the same sparks. We had better get serious about extinguishing them now, because if not, we may not be able to put out the fire next time.
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