We Are Giving Thanks
 This holiday season, we are reminded that it’s not just bad things that come in threes.
Justice, change, and hope are a welcome trio this holiday week.
GUILTY
Just today, the three men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery were all found guilty. This verdict doesn’t bring back a life so horribly taken but it does restore some faith in our judicial system which has historically been biased against people of color. This Thanksgiving, we can look our children in the eyes and assure them that, in this decision, justice was served.
FREED
After 43 years in prison, Kevin Strickland is a free man. He was set up by racist cops and sentenced by an all-White jury for a triple murder he did not commit. Whereas the system put him away decades ago, justice finally prevailed when the system reversed itself, giving us hope that real change is taking hold in our courtrooms.
HONORED
Our local hero, Dr. Ala Sandford of the Black Doctors Consortium, has been nominated for the 2021 CNN Hero of the Year. This is a well-deserved honor for the woman who helped break the barrier on health disparities, saving countless Black Philadelphians from COVID deaths. Before you take your first bite of turkey, cast your vote and help get her the national honor she deserves.
We, and especially our children, have gone through an emotional roller coaster this year. 2021 started with a White-nationalist insurrection at the Capitol and today White murderers of a Black man are held to account. That difference is a reason to be thankful, knowing that change is taking hold in some corners of our democracy. It reminds us to share with our children the great words of Martin Luther King, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
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