{"id":3011,"date":"2022-05-28T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T14:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=3011"},"modified":"2025-05-06T14:30:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:30:40","slug":"its-time-to-be-courageous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2022\/05\/28\/its-time-to-be-courageous\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to be courageous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Right after the breaking news flash came across my computer screen, I just sat there in numbness but not in disbelief.  Mass shootings continued to happen over and over, and those politicians stuck on stupid and a stone heart still hold on to their 2nd<\/sup> Amendment rights. The world has gone cruel and vicious and insane, and I just want it to stop!  So do millions of other decent, law abiding, hard-working, and grateful human beings living in this democratic country \u2018they\u2019 are trying desperately and irrationally to destroy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Dr. Bravada Garrett Akinsanya, founder and CEO of The African American Child Wellness Institute often states as co-host of \u2018The Healing Circle\u2019 presented by \u2018Conversations with Al McFarlane\u2019 every Friday, when \u2018they\u2019 filled with a hatred taught and imbedded in their environment, continue trying to destroy our humanity, they also destroy a portion of their own humanity, life, being, and true purpose on this earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately reaching out to my daughters, it reminded me of the silence, fear, anger, and disgust the three of us shared two years ago when the world heard and saw a shocking murder on a Minneapolis street corner and again on January 6th<\/sup>, 2021 at the US Capitol.  No one knew what to say, and I knew better than to ask why.  All we could do was pray. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another 18-year-old had just slaughtered 18 children and 3 adults for reasons we might never know.  In my \u2018winter season\u2019, I didn\u2019t want to hurt this badly anymore.  On that same warm and sunny day, parents and significant others waited in angst wondering if their child\u2019s name or adult partner had been listed among the innocent and unfortunate victims. They never saw death walk through their classroom doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut came into office a year after the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.  He refused to hold back his anger, agony, and grief.  \u201cI\u2019m getting on my hands and knees begging you to find a path forward to help you see the urgency of federal gun control reform.  Work with us to find a way to pass laws that makes this less likely. What are we doing, I ask?  No other place in the world does this happen!  Our children are traumatized, and they have every right to be.  I\u2019m asking you again, why did you bother to campaign, get elected, and do nothing?  We\u2019re making a choice to let this end game keep happening over and over again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Swing the cameras around so we can see the expressions on the chamber occupants\u2019 faces,\u201d I thought.  I surmise some diehards didn\u2019t feel an ounce of emotion.  Their callousness, abuse of power and authority, and their disregard for humanity toward humankind of all hues and backgrounds appears to remain intact.  But a new wave of demands from disenfranchised BIPOC communities will most assuredly disrupt the status quo,    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minnesota Senator Bobby Joe Champion, Democrat representing District 59 which includes part of downtown and North Minneapolis, echoes a similar appeal to the governing leadership at the local, county, and state levels.  \u2018What are \u2018they\u2019 doing to close the gaps in education, Black women\u2019s mortality rates, chemical dependency, opportunities in higher education, fulfilling dreams, and providing resources for state-of-the-art technological infrastructure and support for non-profits like Turning Point Inc. and others that are doing great work, he asked. There\u2019s on-going violence in our communities attributed to continued police brutality and often victimization by their own neighbors.  What are \u2018you\u2019 going to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to broaden the discussions.  George Floyd\u2019s televised execution and the sentences handed down on the murderer, Derek Chauvin, was a catalyst for obvious and necessary major changes leading to genuinely transformational opportunities and possibilities.  Let\u2019s talk about preventive health care options including dental care, career planning, training, and jobs providing livable wages and merit promotions.  I believe some day George Floyd\u2019s children will know for sure that their father\u2019s life mattered,\u201d Senator Champion said in an interview with Insight Editor, Al McFarlane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refusal to embrace power sharing has divided the country, heightened the awareness of Black-white disparities, and increased demands for legislatures across the country to \u2018do right, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They take power by denying the rights of the powerless.  He said even so-called allies want to do things their way, with strategies that don\u2019t respect or reflect Black culture and Black-defined needs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIronically, rural and Black American communities have a lot in common.  For instance, they have no broadband.  We have broadband but no access, which really showed up during the pandemic and lockdowns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the historical and intentional disinvestment in BIPOC communities, Champion recalls learning about the 1963 Children\u2019s Crusade where hundreds of school students in Birmingham, Alabama suffered the wrath of the head of police, Bull Connor.  The malicious evil on display for the public to witness – fire hoses and police dogs were used to brutalize and terrorize children – set the stage for the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just might take a similar kind of courageous move to get \u2018their\u2019 attention.  Another courageous move is to understand the seriousness of the times we are in. Know that circumstances will not improve until those disenfranchised finally decide that taking a different direction \u2018puts us at the table, and not just on the menu.  That includes how we interact with philanthropic foundations and corporations that tend to support their allies and friends, and not those who really need a couple rays of sunshine in their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right after the breaking news flash came across my computer screen, I just sat there in numbness but not in disbelief.  Mass shootings continued to happen over and over, and those politicians stuck on stupid and a stone heart still hold on to their 2nd Amendment rights. The world has gone cruel and vicious and insane, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[1963,1979,1184],"class_list":["post-3011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-top-story","tag-african-american-child-wellness-institute","tag-district-59","tag-north-minneapolis","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3014,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011\/revisions\/3014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}