(NNPA)—“…a country’s conscience sometimes has to be triggered by some inconvenience, because I think a lot of people who saw the Eric Garner video are troubled, even if they haven’t had that same experience themselves, even if they’re not African American or Latino.”—President Barack Obama in an interview with BET Networks
The phenomenon we have seen in America since the announcement of the non-indictments of officers in the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner is new to a generation, but not to the nation. Young people have always helped to fuel historic social change. We must not forget—50 years ago, it was young people on that bridge in Selma, Ala. young people sitting-in in Greensboro, N.C.; young people riding Freedom buses all over this nation, challenging conventional laws and the status quo; and young people like Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney losing their lives in Philadelphia, Mississippi. A multicultural band of young people, united with historic civil rights organizations, legislators, clergy, and everyday Americans who decided that it was time for our country to do better and be better, have been the impetus for so many of the changes we’ve witnessed as a nation through the decades.
Millions of Americans have now taken to the streets and to social media not because the problems that have caused the outrage just began yesterday, but because sometimes difficult circumstances present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring about historic change. Now is that time. Now is our time.
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