A ‘soul washing of America’ is needed after bloody Memorial Day weekend in Miami | Opinion

Sitting on my front porch early in the morning, listening to the chirping of birds and absorbing the beauty of the world that God made for us to enjoy, it is hard to believe that we live in a world so filled with violence. A world where parents are afraid to allow their teenagers to attend a concert because they don’t know if they will see them alive again.

Last weekend, when we should have been having solemn reunions to commemorate and honor our grandparents, husbands, sons, daughters, nephews, cousins and all our loved ones who died in wars on foreign soils to protect our freedom, there were serious random acts of violence in neighborhoods across South Florida.

It seems that while some of us were planning ways to honor our heroes on Memorial Day, others were plotting ways to get away with murder. I tell you, this shouldn’t be.

I can lament the sadness of the times because of the violence that is, on many occasions, right in our front yards. But lamenting and crying alone won’t help. What will help, I believe, is a soul washing of America.

As a Christian Black American, I have seen enough violence in my lifetime to have become bitter and hateful. But if growing old has taught me anything, it has taught me enough wisdom to know that bitterness and hatefulness only eat at your soul, adding fuel to the already burning-bright flames.

I learned a long time ago that the cost of bitterness only hurts the person who keeps it locked deep inside. Bitterness, hate and unforgiveness make the person who carries them old and ugly, even if they are young.

As we commemorated Memorial Day, and looked back on the violence of the weekend, many Blacks, and also some whites, remembered the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre in which an entire Black city was burned to the ground and where more than 300 Black citizens were murdered.

Some of them had served their country in World War I. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was the hate and jealousy that had been building up against the Blacks in the area for decades. It didn’t take much for the hatred to explode like a barrelful of dynamite.

Are we sitting on the verge of another massacre? Are the perpetrators of these violent acts using them as training for more widespread violence? It is a frightening thought, but one I can’t ignore.

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to plot such a blatant crime as shooting into a crowd, leaving some dead and others seriously injured just for the fun of it. Otherwise, why do it?

Miami-Dade shooting spree over Memorial Day weekend

At one venue, innocent young people had gathered for a little fun and music, when three gunmen, wearing ski masks and hoodies, emerged from a vehicle and started shooting, killing two and sending 21 others to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital and other hospitals.

This shooting spree had barely sunk in when we learned of another shooting incident. And another.

In all, more than 30 people had been shot over Memorial Day weekend in Miami-Dade County. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of seeing makeshift memorials. I am tired of seeing parents and loved ones cry out in anguish over the loss of a child to a senseless shooting.

I have so many questions about the violence in our communities. I know that you have questions, too. Some of you question these merciless actions through heartbreak and bitter tears. How many more anguished cries from mothers and fathers and other loved ones must we hear before something is done to stop this senseless killing?

Yet the violence continues. So, I say now, as I have said many times before, if you see something or know something, please say something. It could be your child or loved one the next time.

I know you are tired, as am I, of the violence and my having to write about it. I wish I could tell you that I am a brave woman, and not wary of any lurking danger as I sit on my front porch basking in the beauty of God’s handiwork.

But I can’t. What I have is God-given courage to persevere even when I think about how I could be a sitting target for some deranged maniac carrying a gun.

And yet we can’t let the devil win this battle. We can’t hide behind our locked doors, fearful of what is outside.

We can’t stop thanking God for his beautiful creation and enjoying the quietness of the early morning. If we stop having hope in all that is good and beautiful, we might as well just give up.

Still, as bad as it seems in our world today, we must not be overcome by fear. We must live and love and reach out to each other. We must perform our random acts of kindness.

Each day upon arising, I thank God for another day and for living peacefully among my neighbors. Sprinkled along my street are American Blacks, Jamaicans, Haitians and Hispanics all living together in harmony.

I am so thankful for every friendly wave or a shout of “Hello” from across a fence, for every child riding his/her bike along the sidewalk in front of my house.

So, as long as God gives me another day and the weather permits, I will take my cup of coffee and my Bible to my front porch and bask in God’s glory and the miracle of life. And I will fear no evil for the Lord will be with me.

And may He be with you.