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The Conviction of Her Spirit


Darnella did not seek this trauma,
but like so many of our ancestors 
she was thrust into a situation 
forever altering her understanding of humanity
and man's grave capacity to embrace evil
and disregard the dignity of another.

 That she had the wherewithal
to suspend herself in time and place
for eight minutes and forty-six seconds 
to capture George's final struggle with death
by a callous and cold-hearted aphyxiation, 
speaks to the conviction of her spirit. 

 It is through such selfless acts
that lived experience cannot be denied
and we choose to bend the moral arc
of the universe closer towards justice
all because of one person's courage
in the face of profound injustice.

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