There is a roll call in my mind that scrolls unceasingly even though I’ve struggled to silence it. It goes like this: George Floyd, Ahmed Aubrey, Breonna Taylor, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, and . . . .


For a long time, I’ve forced myself to not quite forget but to not fully remember this roll call. I tell myself that if I say their names and think of these dear humans and their horrifically foreshortened lives, I won’t be able to go on with daily life (too much acute pain). So much better to diminish the names and numb myself to any corresponding feelings.


I find that I can’t keep the roll call out of my mind and off of my lips today, and maybe I never will be able to again. I’ll have to keep all of them with me, so I never forget again and especially so I don’t ever fall silent again. I must call out their names, over and over again, until their names sing through the air, from ear to ear, lip to lip, heart to heart, and no one of us can ever be silent about this again, especially not me. From this day, I refuse the complicity of my own silence and my quietly and obediently waiting for someone else to fix this.


And a special message to all my wonderful, good-hearted white allies. I thank those of you who have reached out to me to offer me love, time, and concern during this one more time of national grief and horror at yet another flagrant, public, extra-judicial killing of an African American man and the attempted murder of another. Your regard for my feelings is very much appreciated—but at this time I need so much more from you.


I need you to discharge, raise your voice, and take action. I need you, my allies, to take full responsibility for every one of these extra-judicial killings and for each of you to raise your voices in unison as you take your power to make things change. The police are your employees, not the other way around. Since you have hired them, you can also fire them. Take your power on the local as well as on the grand scale. Your power and your voice for good are critically needed.


An additional thought, dear allies. Black people may be angry; we may feel angry with you. There may be doubt and displays of lack of trust. Black people may not be welcoming and nice to you. It’s important for you to understand that this may not be personal to you, that there are centuries of reasons for those feelings. Be a true ally, and don’t let these hard feelings stop you from doing what is right.


I personally thank you for doing this for me and us, but even more, I thank you for doing this for yourself, your family, your friends, and your communities. They are all being destroyed by this, just as much as I, my family, friends, and communities are.


Let us stand together and raise our voices against all injustice. This time you can make the barricades in front of me and my little Black grandson, who will, if he is lucky, fully grow up to be a Black man in the United States.