SO WHAT HAPPENED IN MISSOURI ON SUNDAY?

People came together to be with each other after a horrific murder happened in another city many miles away.  The gathering was held in a barren auditorium. The expectation was that there would be a few hundred people there.  The day was warm and sunny.

The program was put together quickly.  The people grew from a small number to hundreds and they
came in a steady stream until they filled the 1200 seat auditorium to capacity.  Many stood in the back.

Some people came from neighborhoods close by.  Others came from distant areas.  They were young and elderly people with canes, with walkers, some in motorized scooters.  Sturdy parents and grandparents pushed carriages and carried children.

The program began later than expected because the stream of people kept coming.

Leaders representing all facets of American life were on the platform. There were educators, clergy of all denominations, and political candidates and incumbents, and state and local police and guards.

The names of the people murdered in Pittsburgh were placed in front of the platform and the audience was asked to remember them and their families and their communities.

Is it comforting to ask why?  I don't think so.  We can no longer overlook the physical and mental anguish that words and ignorance produce.  We can no longer allow death and destruction to keep us
from thinking.  Neither walls nor guns nor elaborate schemes must be allowed to entice us away from    speaking out.

What happened in Pittsburgh will happen here in St. Louis unless we can recognize that the stranger in our midst is not the threat. The threat is our reluctance to accept words that claim otherwise, whether uttered by elected officials or ourselves.  

REMEMBER TO VOTE NOVEMBER 6.