The violence that has occurred in El Paso is more than a wake-up call on gun violence and the need for real gun control in our nation.
It is also a reminder that the hate of white nationalism is not just focused against the Black community.
El Paso must be a wake-up call for Black and Brown America to work together to build a true alliance of cooperation and stop viewing each other as competitors in a zero-sum game of access to economic opportunities, prosperity, a full share of the American Dream and seats at the table of political power and influence in our local communities, states and nationally.
It is past time that we come together and build alliances not only between our two communities but also with the Asian/South Asian community and all the international people of our communities. It could be that our coming together will demonstrate what our nation should look like. We should never be divided when it comes to injustice. An injury to any of our communities is an injury to justice and equality. There should never be a time when we look at injustice as another groups problem.
Once we have finished mourning all who were killed in El Paso and Dayton, let’s come together and start the real work that is required to make us safer, more prosperous and that will move our nation forward without having to wait for Washington, D.C. or Austin to do what they should have done years ago.
Carroll G. Robinson is an Associate Professor and former Associate Dean of External Affairs at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston.
