By Shelley McKinley During the Third Annual Slavery Remembrance Day, hosted by Congress- man Al Green in Hous- ton, TX, a new phrase ‘historicide’ was intro- duced by keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III. Historicide refers to the calculated murder of our memory and undermining the truth of history. Recent book bans, the rejection of critical race theory, and the takeover of the Houston ISD by the state all serve as examples of attempts at historicide. “They are wiping out diversity, equity, and inclusion in a nation of liberty and justice for all. There is some- thing hypocritical about that,” declared Rev. Dr. Haynes. Therefore, the call- and-response led by Rep. Al Green in which m mu u s s t t b b e e a a attendees bellowed, “Always remember,” took on significant meaning in light of the theme, “We are the dream and hope of the enslaved.” Some of the statements were: “To prevent the evils of slavery from being repeated, we must always remeber; to com- memorate the suffering and the lives lost because of slavery, we must always remember; For the 12 million humans whose lives were stolen from them when they were kidnapped from Africa and forced into slavery, we must always remember.” In total there were 17 statements of remembrance that told the story of the middle passage, breaking families apart, the Underground Rail- road, mass lynching, and other atrocities suffered by the enslaved and their descendants. In addition to remembering enslaved African Americans and calling for respect and reparations, Congressman Al Green also called attention to the plight of those in Gaza. “We who have suffered can- not stand idly by and watch those babies being bombed, with bombs that you are paying for. Our tax dollars should not be used to kill any more babies. It’s time to end this war. There is suf- fering now on the West Bank. The West Bank was supposed to be land set aside for a Palestinian state. There must be a home for the Israelis, but there also
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