One year ago today, I woke up unable to stop crying. Yes, it had been some hours, almost a full day, before my mind, body, and spirit aligned to allow me the ability to release and feel the horror and shock of George Floyd being so heinously murdered. Unlike others, the back-to-back killings of Ahmed Aubrey, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black Americans before George Floyd had left me numb, unable to process and in a state of emotional paralysis. But when the floodgates opened, I was inconsolable. Dear God, what had Black Americans done to be hunted and publicly killed in such a way for generations?
Thank goodness for friends who understand the spiritual journey to justice and liberation that Indigenous, Black, and Brown people have been on since the establishment of the colonies in this land! After talking with Rep. Cori Bush, who was then still running her race to become the first African American Congresswoman from the state of Missouri but who cut her political activist teeth during the Ferguson resistance movement, the idea and seeds for the Truth and Conciliation Commission were born.
Americans as a society have never truly faced the white racial violence embedded in the very fabric of our being. And I was initially emotionally stifled from releasing the grief of Floyd’s death because I spiritually and emotionally knew that we would continue to live in this grotesque pain cycle and see the lives of Black Americans stolen in a never-ending, state-sanctioned loop if we did not do something to collectively face the truth. Calls for “healing,” “restitution,” and even “re-conciliation” are meaningless and unproductive if we never address the root cause of the dis-ease in our nation. This is the mission of the grassroots movement for a Truth and Conciliation Commission in this country, which formally launched less than a month after the murder of George Floyd.
In just a few short weeks, from June 16-18th we will host our inaugural summit to share with others across the country the need for such reckoning with our racist past and present that’s impeding our future. Our work is not designed to paralyze one another with guilt or shame, but to hold each other sacredly accountable for the future we allow to be created by addressing what has kept us from the fullness of our humanity. We hope that you will join us in this journey and work. Register here today and bring someone along with you.
*Note: Scholarship opportunities are available for those in need. Please email info@truthandconciliation.org if you need financial assistance to attend the summit.
