Less than three miles from my parents house, a Black church that was under construction was burned down, just a few hours after Barack Obama was announced as our next President.
Living more than 3,000 miles and over 15 years away from that world, I'm sometimes still haunted by memories of being violently harassed for not being white. However, being that far away it's easy sometimes to forget about how horrible that place can be.
This morning I turned on my work computer, opened my web browser which went straight to the New York Times, and found this headline interesting: A Time of Hope, Marred by an Act of Horror. I gasped when I realized it was in Springfield.
Interestingly, the Times' reporter seems certain that the arson was racially motivated, yet the local paper in Springfield reports that officials say it's too early to say what the cause was. Putting aside the Times' piece, as a woman of color who grew up in that community, I know it was racially motivated. Period.
Blue states can be racist. A country with its first Black President can be racist. Never forget.
