Searching for grace while black and blue

Read the complete op-ed by E4E-Connecticut executive director Andréa Comer on the Hartford Courant.

Twenty-two. That’s how old I was when Yusef Hawkins was killed by a bat-wielding, gun-toting mob of white men because he dared to come into their neighborhood. Eleven years later, it would be Amadou Diallo, who reached for his wallet and was met with a hail of 41 bullets from New York City police, 19 of which destroyed his body.

As a native New Yorker, those two incidents were stark reminders of the dangers of being black. Sure, my mother had taught me about Emmett Till and George Stinney, Malcolm, Martin, and Medgar, but that was back in the day, and things were supposed to be different now.

To read the complete article, visit the Hartford Courant.