University of Maryland’s Collins Plaza a reminder that tolerance is not enough; we must embrace one another | GUEST COMMENTARY

5 years in the past on Friday, Lt. Richard Collins III, a younger Black man, was killed at a bus cease on the Faculty Park campus of the College of Maryland. His assassin was a person with white supremacist ties, who demanded Richard step apart after which stabbed him to demise when Richard refused.

Lt. Collins was the very best of America. He was a pacesetter and a scholar athlete; he was variety and compassionate and had a deep want to serve his nation. He was poised for a life filled with promise. Simply two days earlier than he was killed, Richard was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the USA Military. To lose him days earlier than his commencement from Bowie State College has been, and continues to be, a quiet agony for these of us who liked him. Whereas he was distinctive, the circumstances of his demise are tragically widespread.

White supremacist violence has claimed Black lives throughout America. Simply days in the past, a person fueled by bigotry and hate walked right into a grocery retailer in Buffalo decided to homicide Black folks. The identical white supremacist ideology that drove that man to plan and kill 10 folks is similar ideology that claimed the lives of males like Richard, Ahmaud Arbery, James Byrd Jr. and Emmett Until. It additionally claimed the lifetime of Richard’s grandfather, Richard Collins Sr., who was gunned down by a white man — a person who was by no means prosecuted for his crime. The ache inflicted by white supremacist violence spans not solely the lengthy historical past of this nation however generations of households as properly.

Nothing can come near filling the outlet Richard’s homicide left in our group. His loss shattered our lives and despatched a message that reverberated throughout the nation. Difficult white supremacy, particularly if you find yourself Black, can have lethal penalties. As Black mother and father, we all know we should assume twice earlier than encouraging our children to take a bus, go exterior for a run, drive to the grocery retailer or stroll residence late at evening. That is the distinctive and chilling nature of hate crimes: They depart scars on complete communities for generations and make it tough to really feel like an equal participant in our democracy.

But, at the same time as we nonetheless reel from our collective loss, we should make sure that the tales of these misplaced to racist violence, folks like Richard, are usually not forgotten. That’s the reason we applaud the College of Maryland for establishing the Lt. Collins Plaza on campus final week.

The brand new Collins Plaza comes at a crucial time. White supremacy is on the rise throughout the USA, with its most fanatic brokers rising more and more daring. Final 12 months, the FBI recognized white supremacists because the nation’s biggest home terror risk. From 2015 to 2020, hate crimes towards Black Individuals rose greater than 60%. Elected officers, politicians and nationwide media personalities are more and more trafficking in bigoted, racist conspiracies that had been as soon as confined to fringe teams and the far corners of the web. Now, greater than ever, calling out racism and standing with its victims is crucial.

Memorials just like the Collins Plaza and the Maryland Lynching Challenge’s landmarks throughout the state present a perennial public testimony, serving to educate future generations about our shared previous whereas charting a course for our shared futures. However memorials do greater than mark our historical past. Additionally they create a way of belonging and craft our future by publicly signaling the values of the group. They ship a message about who’s valued, who’s deserving, who’s deemed worthy, who will likely be liked and guarded. Whose lives matter.

When Black college students on the College of Maryland stroll to class, they are going to know that, sure, there’s a historical past of racist violence on campus (as there’s elsewhere), however they may also know that the college has taken significantly its obligations to make its campus welcoming for all, to be taught from the previous, and that it stands in solidarity with its college students in dismantling white supremacy.

The brand new Collins Plaza serves as a reminder that our collective work should transcend merely tolerating one another. Our want is for the Collins Plaza to be an enduring symbolic place on the College of Maryland that honors Richard’s spirit and repudiates all types of hate and bigotry. Could or not it’s a touchpoint that conjures up all college students, school and employees on this campus to be taught in regards to the historical past and the price of American racism.

A greater world is feasible if we as an alternative deal with transferring from tolerance to acceptance to real embrace. That’s the most significant method we are able to totally honor Richard’s life and all the opposite lives misplaced to racist violence. It’s essential that we take collective motion now to forestall such hateful acts from occurring once more, and construct communities with compassion, understanding, and empathy.

Damon Hewitt (Twitter: @DamonTHewitt) is government director of The Attorneys’ Committee for Civil Rights Beneath Legislation. Daybreak Collins and Richard Collins II are the mother and father of Richard Collins III.