The Macomb city council held a moment of silence during its meeting this week. One council member said he could not remain silent about his disappointment with it.
Near the start of the meeting, Mayor Mike Inman said the country last week experienced what he called a rather unusually horrific series of violent events.
“From a school shooting in the state of Colorado, to a beheading in Texas, and the assassination of a 31-year old father of two in the state of Utah,” Inman said.
“Something has to change. I’d like to call a moment of silence for all these victims and their families who were so violently affected by last week’s events.”
Toward the end of the meeting, when city council members usually share committee reports, the third ward’s Byron Oden-Shabazz spoke out against including recognition for that father of two, the podcaster and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
“To recognize someone whose banner was racism, sexism, violence, anti-anybody other than a white man … there’s just an endless array of the things that this reprehensible human being said,” Oden-Shabazz said. “And I want to say something, to be clear, let us remember he died by his own words.”
Oden-Shabazz also said Malcom X, Medgar Evers, and Fred Hampton had families, just like Kirk, but there was no government recognition for them when they were assassinated.
Oden-Shabazz said he did not intend to insult the mayor, but as a Black man, it was difficult for him to hear Kirk included with the others.
“To hear that really hurt me. It was a shot that – I’ve been sitting here with a nervous, tight stomach. Not out of anger, but disappointment,” he said.
Oden-Shabazz asked fellow council members to think of their Black friends and how Kirk made them feel. He said it’s hurtful to recognize someone who caused hurt.
“There’s no good you can find that came from that individual. None,” Oden-Shabazz said.
He said Kirk exacerbated problems that the country has been trying to fix. He is flabbergasted that anyone would want to honor him.
Oden-Shabazz is founder and president of the C.T. Vivian Foundation.
Vivian grew up in Macomb, and went on to be a leader during the American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Vivian advocated for change through non-violent means while working to end racism and other forms of hatred.
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