Is Love Enough to Fight Today’s White, Male Terrorists?
When I was growing up, I was told that love is all you need.
But now in the face of such hatred toward people of color, I’m not so sure.
Three brave people put their lives on the line to stop a knife-wielding white supremacist on a bus in Portland, Oregon, yesterday. Two of them – Ricky Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche – lost their lives defending two young women being menaced with anti-Muslim slurs. The other – Micah Fletcher – was viciously wounded but survived.
As Meche was bleeding out on the floor of the bus, a witness recorded his last words: “Tell everyone on this bus that I love them.”
It’s heartbreaking.
What are we to do with such knowledge? Three people filled with love and one maniac filled with hate.
Was love enough?
It saved the would-be targets this time. The attacker is behind bars. But two precious lives have been snuffed out.
Why? So one scared little man can vent his xenophobia and intolerance?
The America I grew up in seemed to have learned the lessons of the Civil Rights movement. I was born after the murders of Dr. King, Malcolm X and the Kennedys. I was born after the church bombings, bus boycotts, freedom rides and marches.
I grew up in a time when we could look back on all that and wonder what we would have done had we been faced with the same challenges. And now…
Marx said, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” What better term Is Love Enough to Fight Today’s White, Male Terrorists? | gadflyonthewallblog:
