Enough is Enough!

One hundred and five writers from across Africa and the diaspora have put their signatures down to support #BlackLivesMatter – in the face of growing protests in the US following the March 25, 2020 death of an unarmed Black, George Floyd, at the hands of police officers. 

Speak out the names of those who have died: 

George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Amadou Diallo, Ahmaud Arbery, Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanly-Jones, Tony McDade, Pamela Turner, Matthew Ajibade, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Shelly Frey, Ezelll Ford, Dante Parker, Michelle Casseaux, Yvette Smith, Darnesha Harris, Laquan Mcdonald, Atatiana Jefferson, George Mann, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Frank Smart, Natasha Mckenna, Tony Robinson, Anthony Hill, William Chapman II, Alberta Spruill, Walter Scott, Shantell Davis, Eric Harris, Philip White, Mya Hall, Alexia Christian, Brendon Glenn, Victor Manuel Larosa, Jonathan Sanders, Salvado Ellswood, Joseph Mann, Freddie Blue, Albert Joseph Davis, Darrius Stewart, Billy Ray Davis, Samuel Dubose, Troy Robinson, Christian Taylor, Sean Bell, Brian Keith Day, Michael Sabbie, Asshams Pharoah Manley, Felix Kumi, Keith Harrison McLeod, Junior Prosper, Anthony Ashford, Dominic Hutchinson, Paterson Brown, Lamontez Jones, Bettie Jones, Alonzo Smith, Tyree Crawford India Kager, Janet Wilson, Sylville Smith, Benni Lee Tignor, Yvonne Smallwood, Kayla Moore and all other names, known and unknown. 

Every one of them was somebody’s father or mother, somebody’s son or daughter, somebody’s brother or sister, somebody’s loved one whose life had been extinguished for no reason other than the color of their skin. 

What Malcolm X (right) said in Ghana in 1964 that "for the twenty millions of us in America who are of African descent, it's not an American dream; it's an American nightmare" remains true for 37 million in 2020 is a sad truism that tells the world that not only has the US failed to treat its black population with dignity and respect – but that black politicians of all political stripes have also been found sorely lacking. 

Fighting the racism that murdered George Floyd requires more than good intentions, more than nice-sounding words and more than hashtags. It’s time to know that enough is enough! 

It’s time for blacks to renounce tolerance, relinquish patience and repudiate sufferance. 

Or forever stay enslaved. 

It’s worth quoting social activist Assata Shakur (left), who said, "Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them".

Methinks, it’s really something to think about! 

#GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter #NoJusticeNoPeace