I’m not going to tell the story. I’m not going to waste good words on racist heartless terrorist. I’m. I’m not going to hash out the feelings we’ve all felt over the last few days. What I will do is give my sincerest condolences to the families of the deceased. These people didn’t deserve that. No one does. And here we are in the aftermath with politicians denying what we all know to be true and defending what we should all see as perpetuated hate. We see it in the biased news coverage. We see it in the attitudes of trolls on Twitter. We see it in way that the narrative is gun control while ignoring the killers own words about race. We see it in the way that the families of the deceased did not even have time to grieve their loved ones before forgiving, because that is what is expected when whiteness hurts blackness. We are supposed to forget slavery and peonage. We are supposed to ignore that in our not so distant past people who look like me couldn’t sit at the front of the bus. Or eat at lunch counters. Or walk down streets unbothered. Or mind our own business in a church. We’re supposed to pretend that there has been so much progress that we don’t need to talk about race. But when you look at those examples… Tell me if you can tell the difference between 1955 and 2015. I can’t. And that’s a problem. Today there will be a rally at the state house to take down the flag. While I’ve already shared my views on the flag, I plan to be there for the families of the deceased. The number one defense I ever hear about the flag is heritage. Well the heritage that surrounds that flag is racism. I’ll let you do the honors of googling when and why the flag was erected in the first place. Then come back to me and talk about heritage. As long as we defend that flag we are defending the oppression, mutilation and murder of black bodies in America. You can call it heritage. But this week’s mass murder was committed in the name of that heritage. This is the price we pay. Lives are currency in which racism deals. We can no longer afford the cost of racism in this country. Hatred is expensive and lives are too valuable to waste. Take the flag down. Black people have been paying the ultimate cost long enough.

Normally, I give myself a day or so to reflect on the words I write. I try to present an objective case. I can’t do that today. Today I am tired. I am hurting and I needed to share my thoughts. This is a raw attempt at catharsis. There are no links today. As that would’ve been too hard for me to see. Again.

Thank you for reading. #charlestonstrong