Letter From a Quarantined Home: Expressing Disappointed with Some of My White Brothers and Sisters in Christ

A call to fight for justice when injustice is all around us.

While lying here in my confined home, I came across your current statements suggesting that our present actions are impatient and unwise, encouraging us to “let the legal system run its course.”

Having heard these words before, I rarely take time to deconstruct the misdirected nature of the comments of others. This is especially true of those uninvolved or disconnected from the reality of men and women of color’s lived experience.

If I were to answer every criticism volleyed in my direction, then I would find little time to serve my family, my church, and, most importantly, the people of Brunswick, Georgia well in seeking justice.

I think I should give the reason for my April decision to join the fight for justice for Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, since you are swayed by the argument of “outsiders coming in.” I was born in Glynn-Brunswick Memorial Hospital on November 21, 1978. I stumbled down Glynn County’s marshes and golden beaches as a toddler and walked across the stage at Brunswick High School as a graduating senior.

I turned my tassel that night, but I never turned my gaze from my home town. To this day, I still have cravings for burgers from Willie’s, breakfast buffets from Grandy’s, and cupcakes from Holloway’s Bakery. I left Brunswick after eighteen years, but Brunswick never left me.

More than that, though, I am fighting with my hometown because injustice is there. Just like the prophet Jeremiah grew weary of holding in the fire “shut up” in his bones, the fire of righteous indignation burns unquenched in my wearied soul.

The weight of years of hashtagged brothers and sisters compels me. Just as Jesus entered the temple and disrupted the systems that hindered ...