These remarks were given in substantial part to a gathering of law
students at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham, North
Carolina on August 14, 2017. They are inspired by and adapted in large part
from the Eulogy given by Dr. Martin Luther at the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church on September 18, 1963 at the service for three children who were killed
as a result of a racially motivated bombing. Other inspiration came from the
Eulogy given by President Barack Obama on June 17, 2015 for Senator Clementa
Pinckney and the eight other victims of the attack on Emanuel AME Church. Both
speeches are worthy of our attention during this time of racial violence. Immediately
after these remarks, I joined protesters at the Durham Old Court House where
they eventually removed the confederate monument.
Since then I have come to see that Confederate Monuments at the Court House Steps are government sponsored speech glorifying the history of white supremacy, and constitute unconstitutional government hate speech.
I am honored to be asked to give
remarks about peace today, and remarks about racism and the violence of white
supremacy. I am sensitive to the fact
that I am white, a beneficiary of the legacy of white supremacy, still
wrestling with my own internalized racism. It is a testament to this fine
institution North Carolina Central University School of Law that you would ask
for my perspective during such a painful time in our racial history.
My colleague, friend, and
inspiration, attorney Satana Deberry, wrote today “I have had enough of white people explaining to my fully grown black
ass how things work. I am weary of false equivalencies. I tire of the “in my
opinions.” I chafe at the arguments that “both sides” need to calm down – as if
those who would see my children dead are simply arguing over sugar versus
cheese grits. I resent every single post that declares “this Is not us,” or
“love wins.” Or any of the other bull shit substitutes for real, concrete
action to dismantle the system of oppression that keeps us all (even white
people) from reaching our full potential. I am sick unto death.”
In honor of Satana’s wise words, I
will try not to be just another white person telling you how things work.
We gather in the Great Hall of this
law school, born itself of the civil rights movement, lead at times by the
great civil rights lawyers of that generation, to speak of peace during violent
times, and inclusion during times of vulgar and violent racism.
Heather Heyer was only 32 years old
when she was run down in a vehicle by a racist while she was protesting. At
least 35 other people were seriously injured.
They have entered the stage of history in the crusade for freedom of
dignity and their sacrifice has something to teach each of us.
They have something to say to every
politician who has fed constituents the dangerous bread of hatred and the vicious
red meat of racism. I am thinking of the bill passed in our North Caroling
House of Representatives in April 2017 which would provide immunity from civil
liability for anyone who hits a protester with a car. That kind of reckless legislation is exactly
the kind of political act which gives unbalanced and racist people the
impression they can maliciously run over activists with impunity. That
legislation passed 67 to 48 in the House of our legislature. I am thinking of
the myriad number of bills, including the racially gerrymandered voting
districts and voting restrictions, which have been stricken down as unconstitutional
by our courts.
I am thinking of the bill, signed
into law by then Governor McCrory in July 2015 protecting confederate memorials
from removal by local governments. Remember that the KKK and Nazis organized in
Charlottesville in response to a local effort to remove a statue of Robert E.
Lee. Our State legislature has
pre-empted important local discussion over the legacy of racism by codifying
into law the protection for the blood soaked legacy of slavery, civil war, and
racial terror by the militarized force.
These
confederate monuments no longer have a place in the center of our public
squares. There are no statues of Hitler in Germany because even though it
history marks that moment in time, there are dark moments in our history that
are not worthy to lift up a public shared values and public celebration. The
enslavement of Africans, the use of bloody militarized force to protect that
enslavement, and the genocide of Native Americans are such chapters in our own
history unworthy of public commemoration. This is particularly true as we face
a time in the course of our own current events when politicians are feeding the
red meat of racism to citizens willing to act violently on this political
provocation. The confederate monuments at the steps of our Court house
celebrate the traitorous violent defense of racialized human enslavement. They
warn every person of color who must walk beneath their shadow that the promise of
the equal protection of the law within the Court house is another false hope,
another bad check returned for insufficient funds. How can a person of color expect
the equal protection of the law when there is a monument to the Confederacy at
the court house steps?
Now is a good time to uniformly and
resoundingly denounce these values and remove these confederate monuments. We
should replace these monuments celebrating militarism in defense of racism,
with those who resisted institutional racism – Frederick Douglas, Bayard
Rustin, Ida B. Wells, and workers on the underground railroad.
I am thinking of the way police have
supported and emboldened white supremacy. I remember watching video of the
Durham Police arrive in riot gear, shields, helmets, guns, to a peaceful Black
Lives Matter protest. And I watched as sheriff deputies in Graham, North
Carolina practically welcome the confederate memorial day celebration with no
riot gear or show of violence. I watched horrified as the police in
Charlottesville failed to create a barrier between protesters and
counter-protesters and thereby invited the violence to occur.
In addition to these specific issues,
I also think of the current assault on the UNC Center for Civil rights, the
legacy of Julius Chambers, champion of Civil Rights, and graduate of this
university. The current majority of politicians would not only end protections
for civil rights and poor people, but also prohibit the training of the future
civil rights lawyers and advocates for the poor. The current political climate
is not just cowardly in the face of resurgent racism, our leaders are actively
promoting policies which dismantle the civil rights era protections and rob us
of the advocates to enforce those protections. The assault on programs for poor
people and the defunding of legal aid are aimed at depriving people of basic needs,
including the access to justice.
In addition to the politicians who
are feeding our people the red meat of racism, I think of good willed, well
meaning, affluent liberal folks who are standing on the sidelines of the
struggle watching events unfold and not getting involved. These folks are
focused on their jobs and their families, and will not act until these changes
touch their lives personally. Their silence and inaction is also reprehensible
and morally indefensible. Those who are
silent about the celebration of the Confederacy are complicit in the white
supremacy it continues to purvey.
The lost life of this protester and
those injured along with her tell us who have stood on the sidelines of this
mighty struggle for justice, that we must substitute courage for caution. They
say we must be concerned not merely with the misguided soul who committed murder,
but with the system, the way of life, the philosophy, ideology, economics,
politics, and culture which produced the murderer. They say we must work
passionately and un relentingly for the realization of a community of equality
and inclusion.
I think of the place where this
attack occurred. A public space where people were protesting against racism and
white supremacy. In a democracy founded on the freedom of speech and assembly,
the bloody sidewalk where this attack occurred is the closest thing our secular
society can have to holy ground. These
people were putting their lives on the line to resist an ideology and way of
the thinking abhorrent to human dignity and moral decency.
I think of the white supremacists who
gathered to assert their own first amendment rights. Armed with torches. Some
of home beat and attacked non-violent protesters, another who killed a
nonviolent counter protester. It is no
understatement to call these people what they are – terrorists. For all the resources we place in seeking out
and destroying radical Islamic terrorism, we have suffered the death of more
people in our country to radical white supremacy than any other sick ideology
in our history.
And even as I call these people
terrorists, I am mindful of the need to use caution, and resist the urge to
dehumanize people. As Dr. Martin Luther
King said in his eulogy for the four children killed in the Sixteenth Street
Baptist Church Bombing, “somehow we must believe that the most misguided among
them can learn to respect the dignity and worth of all human personality.”
I am also reminded to resist the
temptation to boil or problem of racism down to a few bad apples, to simply the
problem of race to a mere moral failing. That would ignore the centuries of
laws, policies, and institutions which have encoded racism into the fabric of
economics, politics, and culture. The systemic nature of racism in our society
means that institutes create racial disparities without any overt racist
intent.
And so we must resist both the tragic
large macro attacks of racism on our society in the form of these acts of
violence. And we must also resist the innumerable micro-aggressions of racism
in the systems of care – the justice system, housing, health care, employment,
and education.
It is important to pay attention to
our feelings at a time like this. To learn what they have to teach us as
messengers. Grief can teach us tenderness and empathy. Fear can teach us
alertness. Anger and Righteous outrage can give us energy to act. But each of
these feelings when taken too far can lead us into darkness. We must be careful
when fighting monsters, not to become a monster. Or means and ends must be
consistent with our values of human dignity, inclusion, and equality.
Finally, I think of Julius Chambers,
a graduate and former chancellor of this university who argued and won some of
the most important civil rights cases of his time before the United States
Supreme Court. His car was bombed, his office was bombed, and still he
continued to use his skills and intellect in service of civil rights. So I
charge you to go forth, study the law, hone your skills, and put yourself in
the position to resist racism, militarism, and economic oppression in our
community.
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