We live in a moment of time during this peri-COVID 19 pandemic coupled with all the tragic events fueling the Black Lives Matter movement and awareness that will define us individually and collectively as a nation. It is a moment that can not be taken for granted nor allowed to pass without it deeply touching our soul.
The question before us is not so much about being on the right side of history, as it is about, how will we allow this moment in history to transform our lives, our awareness, and ultimately our eternal souls? Will we ignore the importance of this moment? Will we turn our eye away from recognizing it’s import? Will we, like many before us, remain silent about the wrongs we see in our midst so as not to rock the boat or to be polite and just ignore the uncomfortable feelings the awareness of this moment brings us?
On this very day a lifetime or two ago a moment occurred on American soil having a tremendous impact rippling through the American psyche collectively and individually influencing our understanding of what it means to be an American, what freedom means, what justice means, and what privileged and unprivileged means in America. If you consider the alarming number of unarmed men and women of color murdered by the police since that day, that moment was too many lifetimes ago. If you feel uncomfortable with the statement that Black Lives Matter and feel a need to restate that as All Lives Matter, that moment was so long ago it’s best to just forget about it and move on and leave it in the past.
When I first learned about this historical moment in the civil rights movement and the murder, it was the martyr in this moment who inspired and captivated my attention. Years later, during this peri-COVID 19 and Black Lives Matter time that we live, it’s not a person that captivates my attention more so than it is that moment and the consciousness of each of the key individuals involved in that moment and wondering what must have been going through each of their minds as they each individually experienced that moment and the collective understanding of that moment by all the key individuals involved.
The reflection that follows is what I can only imagine it must have been like to comprehend that moment first hand and based on what I’ve read and heard about that day, but by no means is a factual report of the events of that day.
It was a typical muggy August day that late morning, early afternoon in Hayneville, Alabama on August 20th. According to weather records for that day in 1965, the high in nearby Mobile reached the mid 80’s. A group of civil rights activists who had been arrested on August 14th in nearby Fort Deposit, AL, while protesting white only stores there and detained in the Hayneville jail had just been released. As they waited to hear back from the group member who went to the nearest payphone to call for transportation a small group of the released protesters — a young white Roman Catholic priest, a 26 year old white Episcopal seminarian, and two black female activists – one only 17 years old — left the group to buy a cold soft drink at a the small market just across the street.
On the steps of this cash market, blocking the entrance, stood a 54 year old white male armed with a shotgun and pistol on his belt. He and his family were long time members of the community. He was only recently sworn in as a special deputy. As the small group from the protesters approached the store, the middle aged white special deputy threatened the group and told them to leave. As the moments unfolded, there came a moment where he leveled his shotgun, pointing it at the young 17 year black female activist.
The 26 year old white Episcopal seminarian instantaneously saw that moment when the gun was being raised. Time must have seemed to stand still that moment. What must have been going through his mind that moment? Did he consider tackling the armed man filled with so much hate? Did he consider talking this moment through with the armed man? Did he even once think about running away to safety? Did he scream, “Watch out!” Or, did he know from the outset of that moment the very action he would take? Did he know or weigh if the action he did take would cost him his life? How did he know to choose love in that moment over fear? over self preservation? over giving up and turning away?
I can only imagine what must have been going through the 17 year old activist’s mind that moment. She’s said in later interviews and talks that she’s known first hand the best of white male humanity and the worst of white male humanity. In that moment when the special deputy leveled the shot gun pointing it directly at her, did she have time to think about what was going on that moment before the young seminarian pulled her out of the way? Did she look at the eyes of the perpetrator while being grabbed by the arms of the young seminarian pulling her out of harms way? Did she understand why her fellow protester was pulling her at that moment?
That moment that the shot gun was raised and the finger was placed into position to pull the trigger of that deadly blast to follow, what was going through the mind of the special deputy? Was he afraid that moment? Was he ashamed at that moment? Was he angry at that moment and what did this small group of protestors have to do with his anger? Did he feel strong at that moment pointing his shotgun and beginning to pull the trigger at an unarmed, 17 year old, black female civil rights activist? Was his masculinity and sense of purpose threatened by these activists and their work of registering black citizens in the area to vote?
We will never know what was going through the mind of the 26 year old white seminarian named Jonathan Daniels that moment when he made that decision to pull the 17 year old Ruby Sales out of harm’s way. In that moment, he chose to save the life of Ruby without worrying about whether or not that would cost him his life. In 1991 the Episcopal Church recognized Jonathan Myrick Daniels as martyr for his embodiment of Love on that day.
We don’t know what was going through the mind of the 54 year old special deputy named Tom L. Coleman. We know an all white jury will acquit him of manslaughter in the death of Jonathan Daniels. We also know that in a 1966 interview with CBS News, Coleman said he had no regrets about that moment and he’d “Shoot them both tomorrow.” We know that over the years he continued to play dominoes at the courthouse but his friends who visited with him there and played dominoes with him there never brought up the events of that moment on this day in 1965. We also know he died in 1997 at the age of 86.
We do know that traumatic moment, on this day in 1965, when Ruby Sales simultaneously witnessed and experienced the absolute worst behavior of white men and the absolute best behavior in white men, did not break her resolve to continue to fight for justice and freedom and that she continued to be and continues to be a freedom fighter.
How will this moment in time, in our nation’s history, in our own soul development during our earthly journey define us? How will it shape and mark our souls? Will we respond in love and refuse to continue to allow empire and the orchestrated powerhouse political polarity it nurtures to define us? Or will we choose to be brainwashed by empire and the orchestrated powerhouse political polarity it nurtures and continue to politely ignore the suffering, the injustice, the murder of unarmed men and women of color by authorities without holding those in charge accountable? Will we continue to look the other way as we hear from our government that it is safe to send our children back to school while COVID-19 continues to infect students and teachers? Will we continue to ignore the fact that communities of color have been the hardest hit with the highest number of fatalities from COVID-19?
Does this moment in time touch your soul? What is your soul saying to you as you reflect on this moment in our history? How will you respond? and does that response nurture and feed your soul or merely defend it out of fear? Is that response based on love? or a reaction fueled by hate or fear?
Master the moment and allow love to transform you. Master the moment and grow in love.