Shoot Me

Since its modern inception, I have given my life to the Dallas Movement. I didn’t expect to become a leader…but I guess I am. I didn’t choose this path…this path was chosen for me.

At all of the marches…the rallies…the protests…the actions, I did my best to help create healthy productive spaces to channel the rage that so often consumed us. Sometimes we were more successful than others. There has always been a contingent that wanted violence. For many years, I silently watched this phenomenon. Everybody just kept on dismissing them as crazy. I tried to ignore it…until I couldn’t anymore.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve relived that night. I’m standing there next to the Greyhound Station. I hear the shots. I see the bodies drop. I sense the bullets spaying everywhere. In sheer terror, I turned around. I did everything I could to get people out of there. I did everything I could. I wasn’t enough. People died. I felt responsible. On some level, I sill do. I’m reliving I again.

I knew Micah Johnson. He marched with us for years. I saw him try to fight the police. I heard him dream of killing cops. Everybody just dismissed him as crazy. Of course I never knew Micah Johnson specifically…but I knew plenty of people just like him. In fact, they’ve been particularly active online during the Amber Guyger trial over the last few days.

“We gonna’ burn his bitch down!”

“She better run.”

“I already got my scope on her.”

“There’s gonna’ be blood on the streets.”

These comments are the comments of cowards…however cowards are still capable of great evil…and are often hard to stop. So, I want to speak directly to the cowards… If you feel the urge to shoot people…shoot me instead. I refuse to stand idly by as another Micah Johnson unleashes terror in this city. So, don’t be a coward…shoot me. If not, be quiet and figure out how to love somebody.

Amen.