On Remembrance and Resisting Desecration

Kelly Hayes @ Transformative Spaces - On June 18, community members gathered beside the Chicago River to honor those who were killed in June 17's act of terrorism at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Amid the bustle of a heavy tourist day, in the heart of downtown Chicago, we stood together, mourned the fallen, and reaffirmed our commitment to building a world where such acts of terrorism are all but unthinkable. But there was another sense of mourning, and resistance, that also bears mentioning.

One of the things that tore at me the most about what happened in Charleston was that the shooting’s Black victims welcomed their killer into their sacred space, and that their act of love and inclusiveness was so cruelly punished.  Read more.