by Sr. Gwynette Proctor, SND
Office of Black Catholics, Archdiocese of Baltimore
The past three weeks have awakened a sleeping giant in Baltimore. For some, the incidents brought back horrible memories of a time long past; for others the incidents renewed inherent fears of Baltimore City and Black people in general. For some the incidents could be described as a feeling of taking back the power and making a clear and definitive statement that, “Enough is enough, I will not tolerate the deplorable conditions that diminish my humanity any longer. I will not stand idly by while family members, friends and community members continue to be victimized, abused and killed by police officers whose actions appeared to be sanctioned by law enforcement. My life matters.”
In times like these, there are no quick fixes or simplistic answers to the challenges we face. Now, the healing must begin. It must open our hearts so that you can look into the face of any woman or man and see there your sister or brother. It will require us to see all human life with new eyes. The faith community and all people will need to emerge from the complacency that has characterized our failure to act on behalf of those who have no voice; those who have been pushed to the edges of our communities out of sight and forgotten; and those people who were born, are now living and expect to die believing “no one cares.”…