The racist killings of three African Americans in Jacksonville in August reminded Black people of their vulnerability and the dangers they face for no other reason than the color of their skin.
The massacre at a Dollar General store by a 21-year-old white man with a deep and intense hatred of African Americans, is the latest of a long line of targeted, senseless violence against innocent Black people.
Angela Michelle Carr, 52, Jerrald Gallion, 29 and Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19, were going about their business when the alleged shooter, identified as Ryan Palmeter, armed with a high-powered weapon snatched their lives in deadly bursts of gunfire. It could have been worse because he went to Edward Waters University, a private, historically Black institution in Jacksonville, before being chased away by a security guard. Authorities said they were investigating the Jacksonville slayings as a hate crime.
The killings stirred up personal fears and concerns anew, less than for myself but more for my wife, my children, Black relatives and friends. Every time my children leave the house, we worry, peer out the window nervously and check on them until they return. We know it wouldn’t take much for any of them to be taken from us: Wrong place, wrong time; an argument; a random shooting; or an encounter with cops.
Quite simply, Black people want to be left alone, given space and allowed to live our lives in peace. However, this simple desire seems less likely as each day passes.
We know there’s an asymmetrical war being waged against us.
African Americans see the murders as the culmination of years of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ endorsement and dissemination of racist culture war rhetoric, his profound anti-Black racism, and his deep animus and hatred aimed at women, young people, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants and the trans community.
As the NAACP charges, he has “denied the existence of systemic racism and create(ed) a culture of open hostility towards African Americans and people of color.”
The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, a renown civil rights activist, castigated DeSantis for leaning into culture wars to distract from his political failings.
“The racist murders in Jacksonville didn’t happen in a vacuum. Words came first. There is this history of not just who kills, but what kills and what creates the atmosphere,” said Barber, professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. “He’s decided that this is his way to office: Distraction, division, deflection, focusing on culture wars so that he cannot be labeled as a failed governor.”
DeSantis laid the foundation for the deadly Jacksonville shooting by, among other things, loosening gun restrictions during the last legislative session. Now, Floridians can carry guns without a permit, background check or waiting period.
He even had the temerity to attend a prayer vigil. It did not go well. Some booed him and others rebuked him for appearing.
In an Associated Press story, Rep. Fentrice Driskell, Democratic leader in the Florida House, blamed DeSantis’ anti-Black policies for emboldening white nationalist extremists, banning equity, diversity and inclusion at Florida’s colleges and universities, ordering a new Black history curriculum that downplays slavery and arguing that enslaved Africans received benefits from chattel slavery.
She also condemned DeSantis’ gun legislation.
“We’ve given warnings — don’t pass this legislation because it will only inflame tensions, don’t pass this bad bill because it will promote vigilantism, don’t do this because it will divide our communities,” Driskell said. “He has courted support from the far right. He plays footsies with it. This rhetoric was always going to lead to violence.”
In post-shooting interviews, Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon, who represents the district where the shooting occurred, toggled between anger, tears and frustration.
“He refuses to use the word Black. He refuses to call that man a racist. He calls him a scumbag. No!” Nixon said at one point. “He’s tiptoeing around the true issue because he’s worried that his poll numbers will drop with the base of voters that he has religiously went after.”
Meanwhile, Barber said, DeSantis has not addressed the state’s poverty, and the fact that “more than 40 percent of those working for less than a living wage, even though the people voted for a living wage to happen in Florida.”
African Americans, like Barber, see the murders as the culmination of a toxic culture war agenda with Black people in the crosshairs. Our nation’s leaders are elected to find and create novel, innovative, sensible solutions to the intractable problems and challenges that face us all, regardless of race, ethnicity or gender.
To do any less is an abrogation of the voters’ trust.
Civil rights leaders, scholars and pundits note that regressive forces, deeply afraid of change and Black progress, are intent on turning back the clock for marginalized communities, African Americans and those working for a diverse multi-cultural democracy.
Civil, voting, reproductive, privacy and other rights are under threat, while hate crimes against African Americans, Jews and immigrants shot up 10 percent in 42 major American cities over the last year, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism said.
America is on fire. We have the means and the tools to extinguish the inferno, but do we have the political will?
More than 50 years ago, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told us America’s redemption or immolation depends on us.
“We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on,” said King. “Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘Too late.’ …
“We still have a choice today: non-violent co-existence or violent co-annihilation …
“Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world.”
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix