b'LAST WORDS . continued from page 8SandraBlandandBreonnaTaylor.Heall complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it was14whenhewaskilled,andIwasonlyis not enough to say it will get better by and by. He 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forgetsaid each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, the moment when it became so clear that he couldspeak up and speak out. When you see something easilyhavebeenme.Inthosedays,fearcon- thatisnotright,youmustsaysomething.You strained us like an imaginary prison, and troublingmust do something. Democracy is not a state. It thoughtsofpotentialbrutalitycommittedfornois an act, and each generation must do its part to understandable reason were the bars. help build what we called the Beloved Community, Though I was surrounded by two loving parents,a nation and world society at peace with itself.plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their loveOrdinarypeoplewithextraordinaryvisioncan could not protect me from the unholy oppressionredeem the soul of America by getting in what I waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked,callgoodtrouble,necessarytrouble.Votingand unrestrained violence and government-sanctionedparticipatinginthedemocraticprocessarekey. terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to theThe vote is the most powerful nonviolent change store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jogagent you have in a democratic society. You must down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. Ifuse it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.we are to survive as one unified nation, we mustYoumustalsostudyandlearnthelessonsof discover what so readily takes root in our heartshistorybecausehumanityhasbeeninvolvedin that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in Souththis soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwittinglong time. People on every continent have stood in concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death theyour shoes, though decades and centuries before hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijahyou. The truth does not change, and that is why McClain. the answers worked out long ago can help you find Like so many young people today, I was search- solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to ing for a way out, or some might say a way in, andbuild union between movements stretching across then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.the globe because we must put away our willing-on an old radio. He was talking about the philoso- ness to profit from the exploitation of others.phy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we areThough I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the He said we are all complicitway of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.when we tolerate injustice.When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was He said it is not enoughyour generation who laid down the heavy burdens ofhateatlastandthatpeacefinallytriumphed to say it will get betterover violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let by and by.the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.22 AUGUST 2020 BOCNEWS.com'