Pride

In regards to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, there is much I have to say. But, time being short, a brief message must suffice.

Mostly I want Mr. Kirk's supporters to know that I know how they feel, more so than they might ever realize. For you see, the black community of America has long since been through this tragedy. And we understand completely.

Nine out of every ten African-American leaders over the past 150 years have either been murdered or thrown in jail for their aspirations. During the Jim Crow Era alone, hundreds if not thousands of black leaders were lynched, without trials, without convictions, and without even any charges having been filed against them.

All told, these assassinations decapitated black society, and had an enduringly toxic effect upon black culture. After all, why amount to anything in life if you will most likely be unsurreptitiously dispatched for your troubles?

And so entire generations of black youths were lost. Decade after endless decade, blacks dreamed of nothing more than a drug-dealing, gang-banging life of petty crime. It was like a spiritual and communal contagion that corrupted the black psyche. And it lasted for many years after its root causes had long since been addressed by American society.

If any of Charlie Kirk's supporters are desperate enough to ask me for my advice in these dark times, it would be that you not let his death convince you to be anything less than your Creator wants you to be. Life is full of danger. But the greatest risk of all is to never take one. And the penalty for such cowardice is the death, not of the body, but of the soul.