An Elegy of #Names (2010-2015)

Background: Too often, when we hear of the names listed below, we process, protest, and then seemingly forget … until the next name is added to the list. Why is this? Part of it, I think, is seeing each name individually and not as a comprehensive list of names.

Yet, these names belonged to daughters, sons, mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, wives, husbands, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, and uncles. They had families, who will never see them again.

My sincere hope is that we could work together as a country, in our communities, and in our families so that another name will not be added to this list.

An Elegy of #Names (2010-2015)
1
#AiyanaJones
#AkaiGurley
#AlonzoAshley
#CarlosAlcis
#ChavisCarter
#DanroyHenry
#DanteParker
#DantePrice
#DeionFludd
#EricGarner
#EricHarris
#ErvinJefferson
#EzellFord
#FreddieGray
#JohnCrawfordIII
#JohnnieKamahiWarren
#JonathanFerrell
#JordanBaker
#KajiemePowell
#KendrecMcDade
#KennethChamberlain
#KimaniGray
#LarryEugeneJacksonJr.
#McKenzieCochran
#MichaelBrown
#NehemiahDillard
#PhilipWhite
#RaheimBrown
#RamarleyGraham
#RaymondAllen
#ReginaldDoucet
#RekiaBoyd
#ReynaldoCuevas
#RumainBrisbon
#SgtManuelLogginsJr
#ShereeseFrancis
#StevenEugeneWashington
#TamirRice
#TamonRobinson
#TyreeWoodson
#VictorWhiteIII
#WalterScott
#WendellAllen
#YvetteSmith
#_____________

2
Let’s all work together
So that another
#Name is not
Added to this list.

PS: This past weekend as I was running errands, I walked by a police officer. He made a concerted effort to make eye contact and smile. In that smile, I “heard” him say, “Hey, we are not all bad.” My smile replied, “I know.”

I share this interaction to say that by no means is this a condemnation of police officers; not at all. Anyone, who knows me or reads my writing, knows that I hold members of the military – and subsequently, their brothers and sisters in service, police officers – in high esteem. They bravely tread where many do not and we all rely on their bravery.

This is not the job for just one religion, race, class, or profession. This issue is far greater than pointing fingers or casting blame.

The entire country needs to come together to solve this.