Thread by @freddieoconnell

This is what hangs with me from last night: we didn’t just forget our history; we literally destroyed a piece of it.

For so many of us, the weekend is a time for rest, reflection, and faith. As I reflect on last night, I have faith that Nashville and Nashvillians can do better together. But the healing will be hard.

I came up in a protest movement, when America was waging unjust, preemptive wars. And the people I joined in protest were committed to non-violent resistance.

Non-violent resistance has an incomparable power.

I grew up in a city whose protest movement was non-violent. Sadly, this year’s “Walk in Love” event, commemorating the silent march to the courthouse in the wake of the bombing of Z. Alexander Looby’s home that showed the power of Diane Nash, was canceled because of #COVID19.

Last night’s violence was no walk in love.

The Justice for Jocques coalition occupied #MetroCouncil non-violently and made us more accessible and transparent.

The @OversightNow coalition organized and organized and organized some more and had their very work made all the more important by another officer-involved shooting as they continued to organize—non-violently.

The anger and pain people are feeling is unignorable, but it’s also clear that some people were ready to co-opt that anger and pain and simply destroy things.

I intend to go forward doing what I can to acknowledge the anger and pain—often derived from justifiable fear and profound injustice.

But with an awareness of what so many have accomplished through the power of non-violence, I can’t celebrate last night’s violent response to lingering injustices.

I hope to walk in love with the leaders, the organizers, and the people we all serve trying to build a more just, more equitable, more trustworthy Nashville.